Keeping Secrets
by Colemet Milinia
Summary: When Bella is keeping secrets from Will and her best friends, will she come clean with the truth? Or will they find out on their own? And what is she trying to hide anyway?
1. Chapter 1

**Chap. 1**

It was a bright, warm Saturday morning on the Gold Coast. The sun was flooding in through the window of Will's boat house. The brightness of the rays on his eyelids woke him up. Will lazily got out of bed and yawned, trying to wake himself up. He quickly perked up when he realized what the day was. He was supposed to meet Bella at the beach this morning. He quickly shook off his night's sleep, threw on a gray T-shirt and red swim trunks, slipped on his shoes, and headed out his door with an energy bar for breakfast.

"Where are you going?" ordered a sleepy but fierce red-head. Sophie. She was still in bed but woken up by the noise Will made as he was preparing to leave. Will stopped at the door and slowly turned around.

"Uh... Out?" he said. It sounded like a question rather than an answer.

"Out where?" she asked. She yawned.

"The beach," Will replied.

"With who?" Sophie pressed.

"Geez, Soph…" he said warily. Could she be any nosier?

She put her hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok, whatever," she said. She settled back into bed. "Don't forget you have training later!" Will rolled his eyes and left and set out for the beach without another word.

Will walked along towards their designated beach area. All was quiet. It was only 10 a.m., too early for the rest of the town to be out and about. He passed Rikki's Café; the darkness inside showed it wasn't open yet.

When the beach came into view, Will scanned it looking for Bella. There were already a few stray beachgoers on the beach, but not too many. He finally spotted Bella where they were supposed to meet; down by the sea rocks, looking out on the ocean.

Will quietly made his way down the beach, behind Bella's view. As he moved silently, he noted how beautiful she looked. The way her golden blonde hair fell in long, even waves behind her shoulders, barely moving in the breeze. Her sparkling blue eyes, shining from the sun and highlighted from the blue ocean. Her eyes even complimented her outfit, a blue floral tank top and white Bermuda shorts.

He finally reached her. He smiled as he put his hands in front of her eyes from behind. "Guess who," he said playfully as she jumped from the surprise.

"Hmm…" she said. "It couldn't be Will," she giggled. Will uncovered her eyes and swung around in front of her. She was even more beautiful up close. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and settled on one of the rocks next to hers.

"Hey, you," he said to her with a smile.

"Hey," She returned the smile.

They were silent for a minute or two, content just sitting there, smiling, being with each other. Will broke the silence. "So what'd you have in mind for us?"

Bella couldn't help grinning. "I dunno," she mused. "What'd you have?" She returned the question.

"I was only concerned with being with you," he replied sweetly. She gently took her hand into his. They both smiled again.

Before they knew it, they were walking down the beach hand in hand with each other. They were walking away from everyone, towards a secluded part of the beach that they liked to go to. When they were far enough away to have some privacy, they sat down next to each other in the sand.

As they settled down, Bella took her finger and traced a heart in the sand. Will looked at it and smiled. He traced their initials, _B+W_, in the heart. Bella smiled too. She scooted closer to Will and rested her head on his shoulder. Will lightly stroked her hair.

"I'm so lucky to have you," Will said quietly.

"I know," Bella replied. Will looked at her with fake exasperation. "Kidding!" she said. They both laughed. They loved to tease on another. "I'm lucky to have you too," she returned the compliment.

Will looked out over the blue ocean. "Want to go for a swim?" he asked her.

"Ehh…" she replied uncertainly. "I don't know."

"Ah, come on," Will pushed playfully, using a sing-song voice. He poked her side as she giggled. "You know you wanna…"

"Um…" Bella started. Before she had any more time to do or say anything, Will scooped her up in his arms, cradling her as he ran towards the water.

"No!" she screamed in protest playfully as she laughed. Will was about waist deep, yet not letting Bella's body touch the water. "Put me down!"

"If you say so!" Will yelled as he released Bella, splashing her into the water. She let out a yelp as she fell into the water below the waves. She transformed as Will dove under too. Before she had time to even swim, Will wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to the surface.

When they emerged from the water, Will kept his grasp on Bella. "Will!" she yelled in protest, although she was having trouble hiding her laughs.

"What?" he yelled to. "You told me to put you down!" They both laughed and laughed until Will pulled Bella closer for a kiss. When they finally released one another, they began making their way towards the shore. Bella lay on her stomach, moving her tail back and forth in the water.

Bella's face changed. "What time is it?" she asked Will curiously.

He glanced down at his watch on his wrist. "About noon," he told her. "Why?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh shoot, I gotta go!" She tried to pull herself back on the shore out of the water so she could dry herself. Will helped her.

"What's the rush?" he asked as he pulled her the last few feet. He grabbed a towel and began running it over Bella's tail.

"I have an appointment I need to go to," she told him.

"What kind of—" Bella interrupted him.

"Just leave the towel, I'll do it," she said. As Will moved the towel, Bella twisted her hand over her tail. The water droplets turned in to gel. As she and Will brushed them off, her legs reappeared. She quickly stood up and brushed sand off of her. "I've gotta go," she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and then started off.

"Wait," Will called. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Bella turned around, but didn't stop. "I'm fine, thanks," she called back. She blew a kiss and then waved. "I'll talk to you later!"

Then she was gone, and Will was left standing alone. She sure had run out on him quickly for the "appointment". He tried to think nothing of it and started home himself.

. . . . . . . . .

Bella came in through her front door. Her mother was gathering her purse and the papers she needed.

"Bella, honey, you're just in time," she said. "We need to get to your doctor's appointment."

"Mom, do I have to go? I told you I'm fine," she insisted. Her mom wouldn't take it.

"Sweetheart, I know you don't want to go, but it was recommended by your teacher," she told her daughter as she searched her pocket for her keys. "It's better that we be safe than sorry."

"You're talking as if I'm diseased," Bella joked.

"Not that kind of doctor," her mother said with a smirk. She pulled Bella in and gave her a kiss on her head.

"Mom, I'm telling you, this is pointless," Now she was straight pleading with her mother. "Really, it's not necessary…"

"Bella, it's too late to cancel," she replied. "That's the end of it," Without another word, Mrs. Hartley headed out the door.

Bella crossed her arms and groaned. She reluctantly followed her mom to the car, saying a prayer, hoping for the best.

* * *

**So, what'd you think" I hope you liked it! (Just in case some were wondering, this is rated K+, so Bella isn't pregnant. Just wanted to clear the air with that...)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chap. 2

It was Sunday afternoon, and Bella was home alone. She paced back and forth in her living room, staying close to the phone. She was extremely nervous after her appointment yesterday, and it still had yet to die down. She had barely slept all night, too stressed and worried to even be able to relax.

Her nerves and stress were taking her over, waiting for the call from the doctor. Her mother notified her that she wasn't going to be home, so Bella could answer the expected call herself. This made her feel a little better. She could hear exactly what the doctor had to say, rather than what her mother decided to pass onto her.

Bella glanced at the clock. It read 3:30. She continued to pace. The doctor promised to call this afternoon, and yet, it was already three thirty. The call should come any minute.

Suddenly, the phone rang. It barely had time to ring once before Bella jumped on it. "Hello?" she nearly screamed into the phone. A recorded message started to play and Bella slammed down the phone to hang it up. Stupid telemarketing.

She proceeded to keep pacing. She kept repeating a prayer over and over in her head, hoping, waiting. Just as suddenly, the phone rang again. Bella decided not to be so anxious this time in order to avoid potential disappointment. She calmly picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this the residence of Isabella Hartley?" the man on the other line asked.

Bella's stomach dropped. Her throat became dry as she said "This is she." The words barely came out.

The caller sensed her nervousness. "Hi, sweetheart," said the person nicely. "This is Dr. Wright, from yesterday."

"Hi, Doctor," was all Bella could manage to say.

"We got your results back…" he said, trying to keep Bella calm.

Although he couldn't see her, Bella nodded slowly as she said, "Mm-hm…"

"And the tests show that…" he paused. "…that you have dyslexia."

Dyslexia.

Bella almost dropped the phone. The very thing she was afraid of happened. She had been diagnosed with dyslexia.

"Isabella…" the doctor said after a silence. "Are… are you alright?"

"I'm… I'm fine," Bella squeaked hoarsely, although she was trying desperately hard to hold back tears. She slumped down on the couch, too upset to almost even talk.

"Listen, Isabella…" Dr. Wright said.

"Call me Bella," she said quickly. The last thing she wanted at a time like this was to be called by her real name.

"Bella," the doctor corrected himself. "This isn't something to get upset about. Millions of people have dyslexia."

"I know," she replied grimly. _I just never thought I'd be one of them, _she though.

"This doesn't really change anything for you," he explained, trying to comfort her obvious pain. "It just means you need a little extra help with working on your reading."

Bella couldn't say anything; she was too busy holding back tears. Dr. Wright continued, almost as if reading her mind. "Bella, you're very smart. Dyslexia doesn't change that," he told her. "I mean, look at you, you're in all AP classes at school, you get straight A's, your grade point average is highly distinguished, and you've been offered scholarships to 6 different colleges already. It just makes things harder. You've dealt with it your whole life, the only thing different now is that you know."

Bella hoped he was right. She knew she was a smart kid, but she felt like dyslexia almost pulled it away. A setback she didn't even understand, although she already deals with it.

"Here, look up these websites at some point. You may find it helpful with learning more about your condition," he recited some URLs for Bella to remember. "I'll fax the papers you need for school later so you have them for tomorrow." His voice softened as he said. "Don't worry, Bella."

She managed to say, "Thank you," and then hung up the phone.

As soon as she put the phone down, she broke into loud sobs, curled into a ball, and closed her eyes. She was too upset to do anything, to think, to even move. She sat there with tears streaming down her face, letting out loud sobs for a while until she finally calmed herself down enough to stop crying.

As she regained the ability to take deep breaths and slow her cries, she opened her eyes. She held her breath for a minute and just listened to the silence. She moved her head to look around the room. In the blurriness of the remaining tears, she saw the big windows across the room, bringing sunlight into the room. Bella kept breathing. She ran her hand over the soft, red fabric of her couch. She lay there for a while after she stopped crying.

Finally, she took it upon herself to sit up. She slowly moved to a sitting position, though the movements now made her head swim. All the crying had given her a headache. She slowly brought her legs to her chest and hugged them, resting her head on her knees. She finally calmed down enough to be able to think.

Dyslexia. She couldn't believe it. How could she have had dyslexia her entire life and not known it? She tried to think about it. When she looked at words or letters, they constantly seemed to be moving. The other words around whatever she was reading would look all jumbled as she read each word. She would get headaches if she spent too much time reading as well. Her handwriting had always been a little shaky and she could never really write in a straight line. Even though Bella experienced these setbacks, she was still smart and loved to read. It just made things harder.

Bella sank as she realized the truth. All of these things, all her life, had been her dyslexia. She didn't know what to do. What was she supposed to do now?

Suddenly, Bella heard a noise coming from the office in her house. She got up and headed down the hallway to the office. She turned the corner into the room with the mysterious noise. The noise was the fax machine. Bella wiped the stray tears off her face and walked over to it. She picked up the papers that the machine had produced and studied them. They were the papers from the doctor that she needed for school regarding her dyslexia. She threw the papers on the floor and ran out of the room.

After disregarding the papers she never wished to see again, Bella went into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and angrily took out a can of soda. She didn't particularly love soda, but she didn't care enough to get out anything else. As she sat down on a stool and popped open her soda, she heard the ring of a text message on her phone from the living room. She rested her soda on the counter and reluctantly got up to get it.

She made her way to the living room and picked her phone up off the couch. She flipped it open and looked at the text message. It was from Will. _Hey_, it read, _Want to hang out? _

Will. She completely forgot about Will. Should she tell Will about her dyslexia? And what about her friends? Should she tell them? She didn't like to keep things from any of them, especially Will, since they all had agreed to trust him. She completely trusted all of them. It's not that she didn't trust them with it, but she was embarrassed.

She thought about it. What if she told them? What if she didn't? What would they even say? She didn't know if they'd understand. She barely understood it herself. They might not look at her the same way. She didn't know what to do. Maybe she'd just wait until the time comes to worry. She had too much on her mind right now to worry about that.

_Not right now, _she replied_, Not in the mood._ She pressed send and returned to the kitchen.

She settled on her stool and took another sip of her drink. Her phone rang with Will's reply. _What's wrong? _ It read.

She thought before she replied. Should she tell him? She didn't know what to do.

_Nothing, _was all her reply said.


	3. Chapter 3

Chap. 3

Bella awoke earlier than normal on Monday morning. She couldn't sleep any longer. She shuffled herself out of bed and made her way into the bathroom. She splashed water on her face to wake her up. When she was finally conscious enough to prepare herself for the day, she went into her room again and dressed herself in a yellow shirt that posed a color way too happy for her mood and denim shorts. She put on her blue crystal necklace as she went downstairs to her kitchen.

When Bella showed herself in the kitchen, her mother greeted her with much more enthusiasm than she could take at this hour. "Oh, Bella darling, you're awake!" Bella subtly rolled her eyes. "How are you this morning, sweetheart?"

"Been better," Bella said flatly.

"Oh, lighten up, dear," her mother said giddily. Mrs. Hartley disappeared down the hall for a moment as Bella went to the fridge and got out the orange juice. She didn't particularly have an appetite. When Mrs. Hartley reappeared, she was holding a number of papers in her hands. They were the papers Bella had thrown on the floor a day earlier regarding her dyslexia. Bella proceeded to roll her eyes and groan again.

""Now, Bella," her mother began. She put the papers on the counter in a neat pile. "These are the papers you need for school today. There's a copy of each different page for each your core subject teachers, one for the main office, and one for the principal. Any other information they need will..." Bella began to tune her mother out. She didn't want to hear it, not today, not anytime. She sipped her orange juice in silence as her mother rambled.

"...and you have to make sure you take them to school today." Her mother finally finished. "Understand, Bella?"

"Yeah, Mum, whatever," Bella replied in an irritated voice.

Mrs. Hartley looked at Bella with a hopeless expression. She knew her daughter didn't want to deal with this, but she wanted her to at least try. She didn't know what else to say. "Alright," her mother chimed quietly. "I need to leave for work now." She leaned in and gave Bella a kiss on her forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too, Mum," Bella replied. Her mother left without a single word about Bella's misuse of her required papers.

When her mother was gone, Bella finished her orange juice and put her glass in the sink. She went upstairs and grabbed her book bag. When she came back down, she went back into the kitchen for her cell phone on the counter. When she retrieved it, she remembered her papers. She glanced at them in disgust. Instead of taking them with her, Bella deliberately ignored her dreaded papers and went out the door.

She made her way to the bus stop on the corner of her street. She waited there with a scowl on her face until the bus came. When it finally stopped to pick her up, she got on and dropped into an empty seat. As the bus jolted forward, Bella fell deep into thought.

She had no idea what to expect for the day. Without the papers, would the teachers know? Will they treat her any differently? She was sure reading would be no different. She's had dyslexia her entire life. The only thing now is that she knows.

Bella also thought of her friends. Cleo, Rikki, and Will. What would they say? They didn't have to know. She didn't want them to know. Things would be different if they knew. She had decided to keep it to herself for the time being. It was nice to know _something _would stay the same. At least she hoped it would. It would be just like her being a mermaid. Just another secret to keep.

Just another secret to keep. Bella groaned. She didn't want to keep secrets from her best friends. She didn't want anything that could come between them. But how could she tell them? IT didn't seem like a possibility to her. She just didn't want anyone to know.

Bella's thoughts were cut off by the bus stopping in front of the school. She shuffled off like the rest of the students and walked towards the building. She looked on the ground with a grim expression, still caught in her thoughts, still clinging with her fear. Maybe that's why she didn't notice Will walk up beside her.

"Hey, you," he said to her, taking her hand into his. He looked up at him.

"Oh, hey Will," she replied flatly.

Will instantly knew something was amiss. "What's wrong?" he questioned.

Bella tried to quickly shook off the look on her face, failing miserably. She was just in too bad of a mood. "Nothing," she told him. She sounded entirely unconvincing. "It's nothing..."

"You sure?" he asked. "Because if you want to talk about it, I'm here." He hated to see Bella like this, and he didn't know what to do if she wouldn't talk to him.

"It's nothing," she repeated, a little too forcefully than she meant. "I'm just... in a bad mood, is all..."

Will looked at her skeptically, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind as they walked to the building, starting their day.

...

As the day went on, Bella and Will went through their classes together, Calculus, Gym with Cleo, and Chemistry with Rikki, until they got to English, the class they all had together. They entered the classroom together, making light conversation with one another. They all sat in their row, where they, by luck, all got placed. As they settled in, their teacher began to instruct.

"Ok, class!" Mr. Bennett's voice boomed out. He was a tall guy, muscular, in his mid-or-so twenties with spiked up brown hair. To the kids in school, he was considered a cool teacher. The class got quiet and listened tentatively as Mr. Bennett continued. "Open your novels to page82 and begin reading chapters ten and eleven!"

As the teacher walked over to sit back at his desk, the students got their books out of their backpacks. Slight chatter went through the classroom. Cleo started talking. "How'd you think you did on your Calculus test?" she asked their group collectively. "I say I got a B."

"I think I get a C," answered Rikki. "Thank goodness it was multiple choice for half of it."

"I feel pretty confident. Probably an A minus," chimes Will.

"What about you Bella?" Cleo asked when she didn't reply. She was already in the book.

"Oh," Bella realized Cleo was talking to her. "Yeah, the test was... hard." Bella said distractedly. She quickly got back into the book they were assigned.

Cleo raised an eyebrow. She leaned forward to look at Will across their row. She shot him a glance that said _What's up with her? _He corresponded to her look and replied with a shrug and a concerned expression that said _I dunno! _He had obviously noticed to, maybe even before Cleo had.

Cleo looked at Rikki, only to get the same response. She decided to worry about it later and start her reading.

Bella was already working on her reading. She furrowed her brow as she looked at the page. The letters were moving again, and she was already coming on with a headache. She sighed as she put her palm to her forehead. Rikki glanced at her, noticing her frustration. "Uh, Bella?" Rikki whispered, in order not to disturb the class. Bella looked up. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she whispered in reply. "Just... I'm fine," she repeated. As Bella turned her attention back to her book, Rikki raised her eyebrows. Her, Cleo, and Will all exchanged glances. They all had a mutual thought.

What was up with Bella?


	4. Chapter 4

Chap. 4

The bell rang to dismiss the class to their next period. The kids were getting up to leave as Mr. Bennett gave the class their homework. "Alright, class! Tonight you need to read the next two chapters and write a one page summary of what you read!" he instructed. Then he dismissed the class. "Have a good afternoon."

Will, Cleo, Rikki and Bella all stood up and gathered their things. Bella was taking longer than the rest of them as she shoved her book into her backpack. Rikki and Cleo bid them goodbye and headed to their next class. Will stayed back with Bella for a moment. "Want me to walk you to your next class?" Will asked her.

"No, it's ok," she replied. Will frowned. Bella noticed and tried to reassure him. "I mean, I don't want you to be late for your next class," she mended. He shrugged. "It's fine. Don't wait up," she told him. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and reluctantly left without her.

Bella was the last one left in the classroom as she gathered her notebook and remaining supplies. Mr. Bennett looked up from his work and noticed her. "Ah, Bella!" he said to her. She looked up at him. "How's my favorite student?"

Bella gave him the same flat reply that she gave her mother this morning. "Been better."

"What's the matter?" he asked with a concerned expression.

Bella considered telling Mr. Bennett about her new-found dyslexia. He was one of the only teachers she really trusted to open up to. He was cool, one of the teachers that wouldn't freak out or be an annoying adult. Bella decided she liked him after she moved here. Although she trusted him, Bella wasn't exactly ready to open up to anyone about it. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" he pressed. "Because if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

That's exactly what Will had said to her earlier. Maybe that's why she found him to be trustworthy, because he reminded her of Will. However, she still didn't let it out. "Thanks, Mr. Bennett." She was sure to express her gratitude. "I'm not really in the mood to talk."

Mr. Bennett raised his eyebrows, studying Bella. He could obviously tell Bella was hiding something, being even more secretive than usual. He decided to just let it be for the moment. "Alright." Bella gave a slight nod and what she could manage of a smile then headed for the door. "Have a good day, Bella." Mr. Bennett said quietly.

"You too, Mr. Bennett."

...

After the four friends got through their next class, it was time for lunch. They all returned their books to their lockers and headed to the lunchroom. They claimed a table for themselves and went into the lunch line. Cleo picked up a sandwich, Bella and Rikki got salads, and Will claimed a piece of pizza. When they got back to their table, Bella glanced at Will's choice and gave a slight laugh.

"Isn't greasy pizza a little hard on your training?" she asked.

Will shrugged. "What Sophie doesn't know won't kill me." He gave a smirk.

It was the first time Bella had managed to laugh all day, but she still didn't exactly have an appetite. She took a few bites of her salad then just ended up moving the soggy lettuce with her fork around the tray.

Cleo noticed this and frowned. "Bella, are you ok?"

Bella stopped. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, once again unconvincing. "Just… not really hungry, is all…" She went back to picking around her salad, forcing herself to swallow a few more bites in order not to look so suspicious.

Despite her efforts to try and remain vague, Bella was too upset to notice how obvious she was being. She tried to cover it up as best she could, but almost nothing could take her out of this mood. She looked sad for almost the entire day, no matter how much she tried to smile. She kept trying to remind herself that this isn't a big deal, that it's not something to be upset about. Dyslexia is a daily problem for thousands of people, and she's one of them. The news just gave her a shock. Despite telling herself these things, Bella still couldn't bring herself out of this mood. She hoped it was just the initial feeling of her finding out about her condition.

She was also quiet too, just too wrapped in thought, and afraid that if she talked too much, something would slip out of her mouth without her wanting it to. Her friends noticed her mood and unusual silence for their normally happy friend. Bella wasn't usually too talkative, being a shy girl, but to her friends, this was ridiculous. They knew something was up. They kept a close eye on her all day.

The four friends we're all so caught and thought that the bell signaling the end of lunch caused them all to jump. Bella was the first one up, quickly returning her tray to the lunch counter after dumping it, then disappearing into the crowd of people to go to her locker.

The other three friends slowly made their way out. Rikki was next out. Cleo was only slightly ahead of Will. He quickly caught up to her and grabbed her arm. She turned around to face him. "Oh, hey Will, what's—" Before she could say another word, Will grabbed her arm and pulled her down an empty hallway. "Will, what are you—"

He put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her in front of him. "Will, what's the—" She stopped and looked at his expression. Hers saddened as she realized what it was for. "Bella," she declared sympathetically.

He just slightly nodded. "Do you know what's wrong with Bella?" he asked her desperately.

"No," she replied. "I was hoping you did." She stayed put and crossed her arms.

Will sighed and ran his fingers through his blond hair as he began pacing. "I'm really worried about her," he said.

"Me too," Cleo agreed.

"Something's wrong with her…" he began. He was thinking out loud. "She seems really upset for some reason… and she's abnormally quiet. I've been trying to get through to her all day but…"

"But she just keeps shrugging you off," Cleo finishes for him. "She's been doing that to me and Rikki all day as well."

"Why won't she open up to us?" Will said. Will motions to Cleo as he paces. "You're her best friends. And I'm her boyfriend. We could make her feel better. I just don't understand…"

Cleo twists up her expression in thought, as if remembering something. Will looks at her. "It's almost as if she's keeping something from us," she muses.

Will stops pacing. They look at each other as they come to the realization.

"Bella's hiding something from us."


	5. Chapter 5

Chap. 5

Bella arrived home that afternoon in as bad of a mood as she had been all day. Her expected relief of being home was soon obliterated by her mother's shrill cry. "Isabella Hartley!"

The yell made Bella jump as she closed the front door. She walked into the kitchen to see what her mother was on about. "What, Mum?"

"You were supposed to take these papers to school today!" Mrs. Hartley scolded. "Why are they still here?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "Sorry," she muttered. "I guess I just forgot..."

Her mother sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Just please try and remember it tomorrow morning."

"Alright," Bella replied. Her mother gave her a kiss and then Bella went upstairs. She went through the doorway into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She dropped her backpack next to her desk and plopped down into the chair.

As she was about to get her homework out of her schoolbag, something caught her eye. A little slip of yellow paper on the desk caught Bella's eye. She leaned up and carefully peeled off the sticky note and looked at the writing sprawled across the area of the sheet. It was the paper she had copied the website URLs onto, the one the doctors gave her that would help her learn about her dyslexia.

She squinted at the paper. She sat and stared at it for a few minutes. Instead of taking out her homework like she planned, she carefully slid her laptop towards her and opened the top. She had some research to do...

Will walked up to Rikki's Café after school. When he put walked through the doorway, he glanced around the establishment. He quickly noticed Rikki behind the counter, the very person he was looking for. She was currently filling an order of coffee with a towel slung over her left shoulder and wearing an apron across her lap.

Will quickly approached the counter and got her attention. "Hey, Rikki, I need to talk to you." He said to her.

She seemed distracted. "Hold on a second, Will..." She moved from behind the counter and delivered the customer's coffee. When she returned to the counter, Will tried again. "Rikki, I—"

"Did you fill those two juice orders table 6 requested?" yelled Rikki to an employee. Will sighed. This was important, and he was beginning to get a bit impatient.

"I need to—" Before Will could even finish his sentence, Rikki was delivering another order. Will was now tired of waiting. When she approached the counter again, Will grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the café before she could protest.

"We need to talk," Will said sternly. He finally had her undivided attention.

"What about?" she asked in reply as she crossed her arms. Her face looked questioning.

"Bella," he answered plainly.

"What about her?" she asked. She looked genuinely, slightly confused.

"She's not... herself," Will tried to explain. "All day, she seemed to be acting weird. Didn't you notice?" Will sounded as concerned as he looked.

Rikki nodded. "Yeah, I noticed," Rikki said. "But she just said she was in a bad mood. No big deal. Everyone has off days."

Will nodded and took this into consideration. "Yeah, maybe, but..."

"But what?" Rikki interjected.

"But..." Will paused and thought about it. "I just can't help feeling there's something more to it..."

"Like what?" Rikki questioned.

"It's like..." Will tried to think about why he felt this way. "It's like when she was keeping the fact that she was a mermaid from me." Slight alarm came into Rikki's eyes at the mention of their mermaid identity. She quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening. The coast seemed clear. She brought her attention back to Will. He continued to explain. "She had that same sort of air about her today. One that indicates she's hiding something."

"You think Bella's keeping something from you?" Rikki inquired. She was thinking it over as well as Will.

"From all of us," he clarified. This took Rikki aback.

"Why would she do that?" Rikki argued.

"I don't know," Will replied. "But I feel like she is, for one reason or another."

Rikki nodded as she thought this through. Why would Bella keep something from them? Was she even, really? Rikki couldn't picture it. What did Bella have to hide besides what they already knew? "I don't know, Will..." she finally said. "Like I said, maybe she was just having an off day... We'll keep an eye on her, though."

"Ok," Will agreed. He didn't really like the idea of observing Bella from afar while she was acting like this, but what other choice did he have? He nodded.

Rikki pointed to the café over her shoulder. "Listen, I've got to get back to it, but I'll talk to you later," Rikki said to Will.

"Ok," he repeated. "See ya." He turned began to walk away, but Rikki grabbed his shoulder. He turned back around to face her. "Don't worry," she told him. "It'll all be fine."

Will looked at her. He knew she meant it from the look in her eyes. He nodded and began on his way again. As he walked, he tried to take Rikki's words to heart. It'll all be fine. He hoped so. He was sure they would. He'd gotten around the fact that the three of them were _mermaids_. If he can get around that, he can get around anything.

After all, how bad could it be?

Bella woke up the next morning in a better mood then she had been the day before. She got out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast. She found that her mother had left for work already. For the second day in a row, Bella deliberately left her papers on the counter. Despite her better mood, she still didn't want to take her papers to school. She would just tell her mother that she forgot them again.

Bella packed her school bag and prepared to leave. As she was about to go, she remembered what she wanted. She quickly ran up to the steps and went into her bedroom. On her desk lay the book she was looking for. After Bella had researched dyslexia last night, she even went to the point of going to the library and getting a book on it.

That was the book that that lay in front of her now. She opened one of her desk drawers and dug around inside for an old stretchy book cover. As soon as she found one, she quickly slid it over the front and back covers of her book. She didn't want to be seen walking around with a book on dyslexia. The last thing she wanted was to raise suspicions, especially after what had become of her mood yesterday.

She quickly went back downstairs and put the book in her book bag. She zipped it close and left.

When Bella got on the bus, she opened her book and began reading it. _Dyslexia is a disability that impairs a person's fluency in reading and comprehension skills..._

Before Bella knew it, the bus stopped in front of the school. She quickly shoved the book back into her bag and got off the bus. As she walked toward the school, Will walked up beside her and grabbed her hand. "Hey," Will said to her with a smile.

"Hey," Bella returned. She tried to return the smile.

"So..." Will said slowly. "Do you feel better?"

Bella slightly chuckled. "What do you mean?"

"You just seemed..." Will thought back to Rikki's words yesterday. "off, yesterday..."

"I was just in a bad mood," Bella said, a little too quickly. Will took note of that.

"Ok," he replied. But he was still skeptical.

Just then, the school bell rang, signaling it was time to go in.

...

Before they knew it, it was the end of fourth period. It was the end of English class. Bella barely noticed what had gone by of the day already, she had been so wrapped up in her book and her thoughts that she had barely paid attention.

Everyone began to get their things and leave. The class slowly cleared out. Mr. Bennett had returned to his desk. "Have a good day," he told the class collectively. Rikki and Cleo left to go to science class. "Want me to walk you?" Will asked Bella.

At his comment, Bella quickly closed her book. "Uh, no," Bella said. Will raised his eyebrows. "I just need to talk to Mr. Bennett." Will nodded, gave her a kiss on the cheek and left.

Bella was the only one left. She opened her book to her page again as she stood up.

"Bella," Mr. Bennett asked. He turned his chair towards Bella. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Yeah," Bella said absentmindedly. She looked up at Mr. Bennett. "Mr. Bennett, you used to be a science teacher, right?" He nodded.

Bella glanced down at her book. "Do you know anything about genetics and genetic disorders?" He nodded again.

Bella was absentmindedly asking questions, also wrapped in her own thoughts. "Do you know if dyslexia is a genetic disorder?"

Mr. Bennett thought about it. "No, I can't say I'm sure. But I do know that it can be passed down through genetics." He looked at Bella wrapped up in her book. "Why do you want to know?" he asked her.

Bella flipped a page. She began to absentmindedly speak. "Because no one in my family before me has dyslexia but I—" Bella stopped herself as her eyes widen. She regained her attention and realized what she said. She slowly moved her head and glanced up at Mr. Bennett.

He raised his eyebrows at her as the realization dawned on him as well. "You have dyslexia," he said quietly.

Bella looked at him for a while before she slowly nodded. "Are you mad?" she replied quietly.

"How could I be mad that you have dyslexia?" he said to her.

"I meant that I didn't tell you," she replied, almost annoyed at his ignorance.

"No, I could see why you wouldn't want people to know," he told her. "How long have you known about your dyslexia?" he asks.

"Two days," she replied truthfully.

"So THAT'S why you've been acting even more secretive than usual," Mr. Bennett said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said with crossed arms.

Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the next class. "Listen, you have to get to class. We'll talk tomorrow," he said.

Bella narrowed her eyes. "Ok," she replied. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."


	6. Chapter 6

Chap. 6

Bella went home that day tired and confused. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that someone knew she had dyslexia. She shuffled in the door and went straight up to her bedroom. She dropped her bag next to her door and flopped on her bed. She slowly closed her eyes and drifted off into peaceful, needed sleep…

"Bella!" Mrs. Hartley's voice rang through the house to wake Bella. "Dinner!"

Bella groaned and reluctantly sat up from her comfy spot on her bed. Before she went down stairs, she changed into her softest pajama pants and threw on an old t-shirt. As she left her room, she slipped on her slippers.

She came down stairs to find her mom and little sister already sitting at the table.

"Bewwa!" said her little sister.

Bella laughed. "Hi, Katy." Bella smiled at her little sister. She was still to little to even say "Bella" properly. It was so cute.

"Bella, grab your dinner and sit down," her mother said. Bella glanced at the counter. Her mom had already set out a plate with Bella's dinner on it. She grabbed it and sat down at her seat at the table.

They ate in silence for a few minutes with the occasional giggle from Katy about her food or something. Mrs. Hartley finally broke the silence between them.

"Bella," she said. "You left your papers here again this morning." She gave Bella a glance that required an explanation.

Bella wanted to roll her eyes, but she refrained. Instead, she just used the excuse she had planned to use. "Sorry," she said. "I was in a rush this morning and it just slipped my mind."

Mrs. Hartley sighed. She really had no choice but to let it go. "Alright," she replies. "Just please remember tomorrow."

"I will," Bella said. She takes her last bit of food and puts down her fork. "May I be excused?" Katy giggles.

"Yes," her mother says as she tries to calm Katy. Bella walks over to the sink and puts her plate and silverware in. Once again, she shuffles up the steps to her bedroom. She collapses on the bed for the second time aand doesn't wake until the next morning.

…

Bella wakes up, feeling very well rested. She stretches as she looks at the clock. 6:03. She had slept almost twelve hours.

She gets out of bed and changes into clothes for school. Green capri pants, a striped tank top, and a zip up sweat shirt. She grabs her book bag and heads down the stairs.

Once again, her mother has left already and Katy was already at day care. Bella grabbed a granola bar for breakfast as she noticed the papers on the counter. She reluctantly picked up the papers and put them in her backpack. She knew if she forgot them one more time her mother would be angry. She zipped up her book bag and went out the door to catch the bus.

…

Bella walked through the halls and up the steps to her locker. She dials in to combonation and it swings open. She takes her book bag off her back and begins removing books and places them in her locker. She sees the papers and slowly takes them out, preparing to put them in her folder.

Suddenly, someone places their hands on Bella's shoulders. She jumps, dropping her papers refering to her dyslexia everywhere. She turns around to see who it was. It was Will.

Bella quickly scrambles to the ground to pick up the papers. "Sorry," Will says as he bends down to help her. She quickly stops him. "NO!" she almost yells. He raises his eyebrows at her. She quickly tries to recover. "I mean, I've got it." She quickly picks up the last of the papers.

Will glanced over Bella's shoulder. She quickly presses the papers to her chest so he won't see.

"What are the papers for?" he asks curiously.

"Nothing," Bella says a little too quickly. Will searches her face. It seems to be just giving off secrecy. His hear sinks as he realizes Bella truly is keeping something from him. As she turns to finish gathering her things, Will's mouth speaks before his head tells him not to. "What are you keeping from me?" he blurts.

Will can see the obvious alarm that crosses Bella's face. She tries to bluff her way out of it. "I don't know what you mean," she says, trying to put on some façade. Will knows better than to buy it.

"Bella, I know you better than that," he says. His voice is almost stern. He takes her hand into his. "What are you hiding from me?"

Bella begins to worry, careful not to let it show on her face this time. The last time he took her hand like the way he was now was when he found out her other big secret. She wasn't about to let that happen again. "Will, it's nothing."

"Bella, I—" The bell for home room rang. Thank goodness, Bella thought, A way out.

She pulled her hand from Will's grasp. "Listen, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Bella…" Will started. Bella turned and went off to class to avoid anymore necessary conversation.

Will slumped back against a locker, disappointed with how that went. He sighed and ran hes fingers through his blond hair.

Now he _knew _Bella was hiding something.

…

Will was unable to pay attention in any of his classes or give the teachers his time of day. All he could think about was Bella.

Every time he had a class with her, he'd find himself either staring at her or glancing her way every two seconds, as if looking at her was going. It was really starting to kill him. The previous relief or reassurance that he had with Rikki's theory had now vanished. Bella was keeping a secret, and there was nothing he could do about it.

All day, Will tried to take notice of things that may help him figure it all out. Some things caught his attention. First and foremost, the papers she was trying to hide this morning. She wouldn't even let him help her pick them up. With each major class he had with, she'd walk up to the teacher sullenly and hand them a paper, then they would whisper to each other for a minute. That puzzled him a little.

She was also carrying around a strange book that had a cover on it. It was a pretty thin book, one that you could get at a library, but the contents of it were unknown to Will.

As she had been for the past couple days, she seemed too reserved to be normal. Sure, he knew she was usually reserved because of her secret, but now she was even more because of another one.

A secret.

Even all together, trying to link these things together, none of it made sense to Will. What could she possibly be hiding?

He didn't know what to do. Should he confront her? Let it be? Try and figure it out? Talk to the others? He decided that option number four would be a good place to start.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. It was the end of 3rd period, which means everyone can go to their lockers. Will quickly went to his locker, got out the books he needed for his next class and slammed the door. He jogged down the hallway, ignoring the teachers telling him to slow down. Finally, his desired destination came into view, Rikki's locker.

He quickly ran up to it and grabbed her arm to get her attention. She turned to him, but before she could say a word, he began pulling her along towards their next destination; Cleo's locker.

As soon as they approached, Will did the same thing to Cleo. They both moaned in protest, but they didn't pull away. When they reached an empty hallway, he stopped pulling them. Cleo and Rikki both gave Will an "Explain" expression. He didn't hesitate.

"We need to talk."


	7. Chapter 7

Chap. 7

"We need to talk."

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Are you still on this whole thing about Bella again?"

Will seemed irritated. "_Yes, _and now I have a reason to be. I know she's hiding something now."

"What makes you say that?" Cleo asks warily. She's brushing the idea aside as well.

"This morning," Will explains. "She was acting really weird. When I went up to her, I frightened her and she dropped some papers. I tried to help her pick them up, but she wouldn't let me. She wouldn't let me see whatever was on those papers. When I accused her of hiding something, she didn't deny it, but she refused to confirm it, too. I'm telling you, there's something she's not telling us!"

Cleo and Rikki take this into consideration. Will may be onto something, but it seems a little farfetched. Rikki humors him. "Alright, say she is hiding something. What on earth could it possibly be?"She lowers her voice. "I mean, we already know she's a mermaid. What could be bigger than that?"

Will thinks, but despite what he does know, he doesn't have the slightest idea of what it is. "I don't know," he says. "It may not be bigger than that. But whatever it is, she doesn't want us to know. And I want to know what she's not telling us and why."

There's a determination in his voice that scares the girls a little. A passion, an intensity for it. He wasn't going to let it go. Cleo speaks up. "Why are you so set on this? Can't you just let it be?" Cleo understood why Will might want to know, but shouldn't he respect Bella's privacy?

"No, I can't. I'm sure you all have secrets that you keep from one another, but it's not noticeable. Whatever Bella's hold back is affecting her. Something's changed, and I can't just let it be," Will says, his voice full of fire. He softens a bit. "I can't let anything hurt her."

Cleo sighs and looks to Rikki. She gives an empathetic shrug. "He might be on to something," she admits. "If something's happening to Bella, we can't just let it go. We need to show her that we care."

"You're right," Cleo agrees with a nod. "But we can't just barge right in and demand she tell us whatever she may be hiding. We have to just figure it out."

"And we will," says Will. "But not for ourselves." The girls look at him curiously.

"For Bella."

…

Bella made her way down the steps towards her English class. She was afraid for many reasons to go. For one thing, it was the first class where she had close contact to Will, who she hadn't spoken to since their confrontation this morning. She was in deep water with him and his suspicions of her at the moment.

The other reason was Mr. Bennett. He had figured out about Bella's dyslexia through her own carelessness yesterday, mentioned something about her being secretive, and then told her he'd talk to her about it tomorrow. Her stomach dropped at the thought of what that could mean.

No matter how she tried to play it, she was having a pattern of making everyone suspicious. She had a feeling a watchful eye will be kept on her throughout English.

She braced herself and entered the classroom. She saw that Will, Cleo, and Rikki, were already there, shooting each other glances. Bella quietly took her seat next to Will and got out her notebook and book for class. Will tapped her on the shoulder as she set her pencil down. She slowly turned to him.

"Hey, we need to talk," he whispers to her.

Bella's stomach drops further. She gulps. "Wh-what about?" she stutters nervously.

Will opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by Mr. Bennett starting class. "Ok class!" he booms.

"I'll tell you later," Will whispers quickly. Bella gladly turns her attention back to their teacher as he teaches them about prepositional phrases and what not. Even though, she's looking, she's barely paying attention. She was too busy in her own mind trying to figure out what to say to Will. She knew he was going to ask. She just didn't exactly know what…

Not to mention Mr. Bennett. She had to confront him sooner or later, considering she had to give him the papers. He was obviously going to have some questions, ones she didn't want to answer. But what would she say to him otherwise? She had given the papers to the rest of her teachers already. Why would this be harder?

Because Mr. Bennett is different, that's why, thinks Bella. Something about him as a teacher is different. He almost knows things before you tell him. He can figure things out. He's smart. Take that he knew Bella has been hiding something. It just doesn't get by him. He actually pays attention. He actually cares.

Before Bella knew it, she had an assignment on her desk. She quickly got through the paper, as she was specifically anxious. She tried not to show it, but between Will's watchful eye and Mr. Bennett paying attention, probably concerned with her dyslexia, it didn't get by anyone.

Soon, she finished her paper and the bell rang. She quickly got up and tried to make a clean escape from the room, but not before Will was able to catch her by the arm and give her the look she was dreading. He began leading her out of the room where they could talk.

Suddenly, Bella wasn't sure if she was relieved or filled with more terror at what happened next.

"Not so fast, Bella," called Mr. Bennett's voice, stopping the pair from going further. "I need to speak with you."

Bella looked at up at Will as she pulled her arm away. "I gotta go…" she said. As she turned, Will opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it and just moved along. Bella reentered the classroom.

Bella walked up to Mr. Bennett's desk. "You should have papers for me," he said to her. Bella slowly pulled said papers out of her backpack and handed them to him. He quickly looked over each page silently. Bella decided to break the silence, even if it meant what she wanted to avoid. She had to get it out.

"What did you mean yesterday when you said I had been being more secretive than usual?" she asked her English teacher.

"Nothing," he said, still not turning his attention from the papers. "You're just secretive." He seems to be very blunt.

"That's not a good answer," she replied. "What do you mean?"

"What else is there?" he asks in reply. He can't get much broader than that, at least in his own mind. "You're just reserved; you kind of only keep to yourself and a few others in order not to open up too much."

"I move a lot," quickly retorted Bella. "I don't like to get too close to people before I leave."

"That may be true, but I don't think that's the _only _reason you're like that," Mr. Bennett says. "It just seemed like your dyslexia added to it to a point where it almost shut you out. Not good."

Bella couldn't believe it. He was absolutely right, about all of it. The only thing that was missing from his information was the fact that she was a mermaid.

"Why do you keep it all in?" he asks suddenly. Bella realizes why he's different. He's not just another teacher and he's not nosy. He's just genuinely concerned about her and everyone else's well being.

Bella half chuckles. "There's a difference between _wanting _to keep it in and things you don't dare let out," she replies. "This just happens to be the latter."

Mr. Bennett studies Bella curiously. "Something you don't dare let out?"

"Yeah," she started to explain. "Something you wish you didn't have to keep in, but you do."

"Why can't you let it out?" he asked.

Bella thought. She obviously couldn't say because she'd end up in a science lab. "Because people wouldn't understand." She mentally scolded herself. Just by saying that and trying to explain she was giving away way too much.

"I see," he said. He was obviously deep in thought about her words, so Bella stayed silence. She wished she knew exactly what it was. Suddenly, Bella was saved by the second bell.

"I have to go," she told Mr. Bennett as she headed for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Ok," he said as he left. "I'll look at these papers tonight and talk to you tomorrow."

"Ok," Bella replied. She stopped. "Oh, and Mr. Bennett?" He looked up at her. She smiled. "Thanks." Despite giving away too much, it felt good to get that least little bit off her chest.

Mr. Bennett returned the smile. "Happy to help."


	8. Chapter 8

Chap. 8

As the last bell rang, Will quickly got to his locker to put away his school books and made his way to the bas. He stepped up in to the bus, found an empty seat, sat down, dropped his bag, and quickly pulled out his phone. He sent Bella a text message. _Meet me at our spot on the beach at 3. I really need to talk to you._

He waited anxiously for her reply. As soon as he felt the phone vibrate, he instantly flipped the phone open. _I don't really know if I can today… _That's all her reply said.

Will shook his head to himself. He knew exactly what to reply. _Bella, don't play games. I know something's up. And I need to talk to you. _His reply rang true. He was tired of playing these games. The last time they were played, he almost lost Bella, and he wasn't about to let that happen again.

Bella's reply took a few minutes to come. For a minute, Will thought she wasn't going to reply at all. Finally, the message reached his phone. He flipped it open. _Alright. I'll see you there._

It gave Will some relief that she was going to come, that she was going to talk. He had no idea what to say or what to expect of what was about to happen at the beach, but he was just glad he was going to get something out of her. Or at least he hoped he would.

As this all ran through his mind, he just sat in his seat, waiting anxiously for the end of the bus ride.

…

Bella walked home, gradually receiving Will's text messages, her heart sinking with each one. He was going to make her talk to him, and he wasn't about to let it go. She knew him too well for that.

As she walked, she tried to work through her mind what she would tell him. Nothing? Something? Everything? She knew she wasn't ready for the latter, but she wasn't ready to lie to him either. She needed to figure out what to say, but the more she thought about it, the more she blanked. Nothing came. She hoped it all would just come when it came time, but she knew that was too much to hope for.

She finally made it to her house. She slowly took her key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. As soon as she went in, she went upstairs to her room to think more. As she entered her own room, she dropped her school bag then just sank on to her bed and closed her eyes.

What should she do? Should she skip out on him? Just go without a clue? She knew each of those options were terrible. She already promised she would go, it would be even worse to skip out on him. What other choice did she have? She had to go.

Bella wished more than anything that she had someone to talk to this about. Someone who could help her, who would understand. But there was no one who could. The only person who came to Bella's mind was Mr. Bennett, but he didn't really count. He found out because he had to, but he did help her a little.

Bella opened her eyes and turned her head to the clock on her desk. It read 2:45. She groaned as she sat up. She picked up her phone and put it in her pocket. She reluctantly stood up, went downstairs, and headed out of the door to meet Will.

…

Will paced anxiously around his and Bella's meeting place. He looked at his watch. 3:02. Where was Bella?

He started to contemplate whether she was really going to come. He hoped she would. He didn't know what to say, but he knew he wanted to talk.

As the clock hit 3:05, he finally saw Bella approach. She looked slightly grim as she came. Finally, she stopped in front of Will. Will studied her face and looked her up and down; looking for anything that might help him find what he was looking for in her.

When he saw nothing that would help, he finally spoke. "Hi."

"Hi," she repeated back to him.

He motioned to a rock behind him. "Sit down. We need to talk." He thought it was a good start. She abided and took a seat. He sat down next to her.

Will had no idea what to say next, so he got straight to the point. "What are you keeping from me?"

Bella's expression changed a little at his forwardness. She didn't know what to say either. She tried to stall. "Will…"

He obviously saw this coming. He didn't stand for it. "No, Bella. I don't want excuses. I want answers," he said impatiently. He quieted his voice a little. "The last time this happened, I almost lost you when I found you were a mermaid. I don't want that to happen again."

Bella sighed. "Will, it's not that simple…"

"Why can't it be?" he countered. "Why can't you tell me?" He quieted his voice again. "I feel like you don't trust me."

Bella was worried now. "Will, of course I trust you, but…"

"But what?" he demanded. "Why won't you tell me?"

Bella felt tears threaten. This wasn't easy. "Because… because I can't." It was the best she could think of. She really felt in her heart that she _couldn't _tell him yet. She just wasn't ready.

"Why can't you?" he said. He was trying to keep calm and keep his patience. He tried to hide the hurt he was feeling. He felt like Bella wasn't trusting him.

"Because it's not something you just take lightly," she spat at him. "For me or for you," she adds.

"What could be worse than you being a mermaid?" he shoots back. It's agitating to him, he just didn't want to keep secrets. "If I can handle that, I can handle anything."

"I never said that!" Bella says. "And I never said it was worse! It's just… different."

Will sighs. He understands what she's saying, but he didn't know if she understood him. "You know you can trust me with anything."

"Yeah, I know that," she replies. She does know that, she knows she can confide anything to him. She feels there's no one she trusts more than him. She just needed her own time to think it through. _She _was still getting used to it. And despite the fact that she _did _trust Will, she had no idea how he would react. "But remember when you first found out that I was a mermaid?"

"Yes," Will replied. He wasn't exactly sure where she was going with this…

"Remember how right after you did, you didn't treat me the same? You only saw that I was a mermaid and not as a person?" Bella said.

Will twitches. He feels a pang of hate for himself at the memory of how he treated Bella. He just lost his head, but now he regretted it more than anything. He painfully answered, "Yes."

"It's kind of like that," Bella said. "You might not look at me the same, just like you did when you found out my secret." Bella knew this rang true. She realized that was just one of the things she was afraid of. She knew her dyslexia didn't change who she was nor did her being a mermaid change her. But it was almost the same. If people knew, they might not treat her the same. That's why she wanted to keep them both a secret. And so far, she seemingly failed at both with Will.

"You know I'd never make that mistake twice," Will finally said. Now, more than ever, he wanted to know what Bella was keeping from him, what could possibly change what he thought about her and how he saw her. He didn't think there was anything big enough, no secret in the world that could change how he felt about Bella.

"I believe you," she said. "But this is also something I need to deal with for myself. Something I need to figure out, too."

Will didn't know what to do. He was caught between wanting to know and Bella _not _wanting him to know. He sighed. "Ok," he said reluctantly. "I'll let it go for now."

"Thank you," she replied, somewhat relieved. Bella was resentful to the words 'for now', but it was better than nothing. She would just try and keep his suspicions down and hope he'd forget. Just act the way she always did. She decided now would be a good time to leave. "Listen, I have to go, but I'll text you later," she told him. She stood up, brushed herself off and gave Will a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, I'll see you later," he replied. She started off.

Bella thought she was doing herself a favor by leaving at that point, but she had only given Will even more time to think about what he was going to do.


	9. Chapter 9

Chap. 9

After Will's conversation with Bella, he decided to take matters in to his own hands. There was no way Bella was going to tell him anytime soon, or at least that's how it appeared to him. But he wasn't about to take no for an answer. It's the same compulsive feeling he had when before he knew Bella was a mermaid and he had his suspicions. He needed to know what was going on.

Will went in to school the next day with determination. He had a few ideas in mind about what to do. First, he decided he needed to find out what was in the book Bella had been carrying around.

He thought it would be best to do it during English class. He sat very close to Bella in that class and it would be easy for him to sneak a peek at the book. He just needed the right moment when Bella wasn't looking to get it.

All throughout the day, Will didn't have a clue of how to get Bella not to be looking. He thought that maybe he could get her wet, causing her to run out of the room, but he knew that was too risky. If anything went wrong in that plan, he would have even more of a problem than he did already. He scratched that idea.

Nothing else came, and by the time English came around, he still didn't know how he would pull it off. He got to class early, before Bella or anyone else. He sat anxiously in his chair as he waited for Bella to arrive.

When she finally came, Will instantly saw the familiar red-covered book mixed in with the rest of her things. She gave Will a slight smile. He returned it as she sat down, careful not to take his glance totally from the book. She had it buried under a few other notebooks and other things, obviously trying to hide it, but he could still see it. She slipped her books under her seat, setting aside the ones she needed for class.

As the others kids gradually finished arriving, their teacher, Mr. Bennett started class. Will was hardly paying attention, still too focused on trying to get that book. He glanced up to look at Bella's face. She was paying close attention to the English lesson at hand. Will saw his chance.

While Bella's attention was still plastered to what the teacher was writing on the board, Will subtly bent down to his left. The book was right there, just within his reach. He tried to be stealthy and quiet as he reached for the red-covered book. His movement caught Bella's eye. She turned and gave him a peculiar expression. Will panicked.

"Uh…" he whispered. Bella raised an eyebrow. "I, uh, dropped my pencil." Will quickly looked around, trying to make his story believable. Bella just looked at him funny, gave shrug, and then turned her attention back to Mr. Bennett.

Will quickly sat up and sighed. _That _didn't work. It was all he had, and now he didn't know what else to do. Mr. Bennett started passing out a worksheet. Will picked his up, wrote his name, and began working.

His attention was only half on the paper, the other half trying to come up with a new plan to get that book from Bella. Suddenly, he noticed her stir in her seat beside him. She had her hand raised. Mr. Bennett looked up and called on her. "Yes, Bella?"

"May I go to the bathroom?" she asked quietly.

"Sure," he replied. "Just fill out a pass." Bella took out a piece of paper, filled out the pass, brought it up to Mr. Bennett to sign, and then left the classroom.

Will couldn't believe his unlikely stroke of luck. He didn't waste any time. He quickly reached over and got the book while still being subtle. He hid the book down in his lap, away from everyone to see. He quickly did a scan of the other students in the room. No one was paying attention, not even Cleo and Rikki. He seized his opportunity.

He flipped open the cover of the book and opened to the title page. _Dyslexia. _

Dyslexia? Why would Bella have a book on dyslexia. He Will flipped through more of the pages. It was just information and facts about dyslexia, different types, symptoms, and other things you may want to know.

It didn't make sense to Will. Why would Bella have this? He tried to match it with the other things he thought about how Bella's been but it didn't seem to add up.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hallway. He quickly shut the book and returned it to Bella's pile of books the way it was before and then sat up. As Bella walked in the room, he glanced at the pile. It looked exactly as he had found it, like no one touched it at all.

Bella sat down and returned to her work without so much of any suspicion. Will felt relieved. He had pulled it off. Now he just had something else to think about.

What could this mean?

…

Bella finished up her worksheet just as the bell rang. She picked up her stuff as Will came over to her.

"Want me to walk you to your next class?" he asked her.

"No, thanks," she said. "I was going to stay back and talk to Mr. Bennett for a minute."

He looked at her curiously. "Why have you been staying back here for the past couple of days? You always seem to have to talk to him about something."

Oh no, Bella thought. He's suspicious again. "No, it's nothing," she replied, waving him off. "I just sometimes have questions about the work, is all…"

"You always seem to finish it easily though…" he countered, still suspicious. This wasn't helping Bella's situation.

"Will, it's nothing, I just sometimes have questions. Don't worry about it, it's fine," she tells him.

"Alright," he says. "If you say so…" He leaves without another word.

Bella groans. Everyone else is gone by now, so Mr. Bennett notices it. "What's up?" he asks her, referring to her noise.

"Ah, nothing," she replies. "Just boy troubles.

Her teacher laughs. "Sorry, can't help you there."

Bella laughs too. "Yeah, I know."

Mr. Bennett changes the subject. "So how are you coping?" he asks.

"Fine," Bella replies. "Nothing's really changed. I guess I'm just getting used to the fact that it has a name." She chuckles.

"Have you decided whether or not to tell your friends?" he asks.

"I don't think I will. At least not yet," she explains. "I think I have to get used to it before other people need to. I'm afraid of what will happen when other people know, too. I mean, I freaked out myself. I'm sure my friends wouldn't act like that, but…"

"You never know," Mr. Bennett finishes for her.

"Exactly," Bella says. She's surprised at how well Mr. Bennett understands.

"I know how you feel," he says. "It's a hard thing to deal with, especially when the initial realization of it kicks in. It's just something you work through. It makes you stronger."

Bella never really thought of it like that. "Maybe I ought to get more perspective," she comments, almost as if she was thinking out loud.

"Maybe you should," Mr. Bennett agrees.

"Hopefully I'll start to see _my _dyslexia that way," she says. She smiles. She feels good talking about this to Mr. Bennett. He understands how she feels about it, which is really helpful. She feels safe talking about it.

Little did Bella know that Will was stand right out in the hallway, hearing everything she had said.


	10. Chapter 10

Chap. 10

"Hopefully I'll start to see _my _dyslexia that way."

Will stands out in the hallway, hearing those words come out of Bella's mouth.

Will just stands there. He doesn't know what to do, he doesn't know what to say after hearing that come out of Bella's mouth.

Suddenly, he begins to hear her footsteps coming towards the door. He doesn't want her to know he was there, at least not now. He quickly turns on his heal as quietly as possible and walks as fast as he can, while still trying to maintain some sense of silence, and heads for the opposite direction.

When he realizes he's a safe distance away, he stops and leans against a locker, eventually sinking to the floor. His mind captures himself in thought.

Bella has dyslexia. He couldn't believe it. How could Bella have dyslexia and Will not see it? Had she always had it?

Will rolled his eyes at himself. Of course she always had it. You can't just get dyslexia, can you? He honestly didn't know. It was entirely new territory for him. He didn't know too much about dyslexia. He knew as much that it was a learning disability that impaired your reading skills. But it didn't seem right to him. Bella seemed like a good reader. She was smart and got good grades. Was it possible that she could really did have this disability?

Will stopped himself. He was making assumptions. Just because Bella had dyslexia didn't mean she wasn't smart, obviously.

Something else haunted Will at the same time. Why didn't she tell him? Why would she keep this from him? He recalled the conversations he had with her when he realized she was hiding something.

_It's not something you take lightly._

_It's different than the mermaid secret._

_People might not treat me the same._

The last thing caught Will dead on. He had just found out Bella had dyslexia and he was already looking at her in a totally different way. He tried to snap himself out of it. He needed to realize that she was the same Bella she had always been.

By why did it feel so different now?

Because of the secret, he thought to himself. It was the secret. Will shattered whatever invisible barrier was between them, the secret that Bella didn't want him to know. Will didn't want the barrier there, but Bella did. But now it was broken. Now he knew.

But Will still didn't understand. Why would Bella _want _the barrier there? Maybe it was to hold on to whatever sanity she had through the rest of what she experienced. Maybe it was the thought of her own security within herself.

Will didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, it made Will feel like Bella didn't trust him. After all they had been through, why wouldn't Bella want him to know, or maybe even not _trust _him to know?

Bella had made it pretty obvious before that she wanted to keep her secret to herself. So now that Will had it, what did he do with it? Should he tell Bella he knows? Tell the others for their own good? Just keep it to himself all in all?

He knew the last option wasn't good. He couldn't just leave himself unanswered with this information. It didn't seem right to him. He also knew his second option was no good either. It wasn't his secret to tell, and she obviously didn't want anyone know. He was breaking the rule by knowing himself.

That left him with his first option. He had to tell Bella he knew. But how?

How would he even go about doing that? He can't just go up to her and flat out say it, flat out tell her that he was eavesdropping when he heard her admit it. He really had to approach it lightly, unlike the way he did when he found out Bella was a mermaid. Maybe he would just tell her he needed to talk to her and gently explain himself.

Another thought occurred to Will. Maybe he would just wait until Bella told him herself. She would tell him at some point, right? Maybe she wouldn't. But she wouldn't keep it a secret forever, she wouldn't keep it from him forever, would she? She wouldn't. She couldn't. But then again, maybe she would. After all, that's what she was planning to do with her mermaid secret before he found out. Would she do the same with this?

Will thought it was unlikely. Being a mermaid and keeping it a secret is a lot different from having dyslexia and keeping it a secret. Dyslexia wasn't a totally uncommon thing and it's not a big deal. Or maybe it was. Will didn't know, but he supposed some people just wanted to keep it to themselves.

Bella would probably tell him eventually. She said that, didn't she? She just said not yet… right? Will thought she would tell him.

But how long would it really take for her to tell him? From what she made it sound, it wasn't going to be anytime soon. Will shook his head. Now he _had _to tell her he knew.

Will put his head in his hands. This wasn't easy. How is he going to tell her? He needed to think about it.

He recapped in his head what he already knew. Bella has dyslexia. Will knows almost nothing about dyslexia. He found this out by eavesdropping outside of Mr. Bennett's classroom while waiting for Bella. Bella is intentionally trying to keep it from Will and the girls, as well as everybody else. Will isn't supposed to know. He somehow has to explain everything to Bella. This isn't going to be easy.

Will put his head in his hands. Everything seemed confusing right now. But one way or another, he had to get around this all with Bella.

Will looked at his watch. 12:06. He corresponded this time with his schedule. Sixth period, he had study hall. Perfect.

Will slowly stood up. He needed to think about what he was going to do. But first, he headed towards the library. He had some research to do…


	11. Chapter 11

Chap. 11

Bella came home after school and stepped off the bus. She absentmindedly walked home, just thinking. She had felt a lot better the past day or so than she did initially, which was a big up for her. She was beginning to accept the fact of her dyslexia, understanding that it's something she's dealt with forever, and it wasn't changing now. Now she knew, which was ok. Probably better than not knowing.

She also had learned more about it. Before, she had no idea how common it really was. According to different sources, dyslexia affects just about 1 in 10 people, and most don't even know they have. Bell thought that must've been how it was for her.

She also learned that it ranges from mild to severe and is different for every person who has it. Bella thought about hers. Moving letters, other jumbled words, getting headaches, and more. Hers wasn't too severe, and she knew that. She was thankful for that.

Bella was also accepting that this is just part of her life, like her being a mermaid. Just another thing. And she was finally becoming ok with that.

The only thing she was worried about now was her friends and Will. Should she tell them? There was a part of her that said yes and a part of her that said no. She didn't like keeping secrets, especially from them, but she didn't really feel like telling them was the best option, either. I mean, what would they say? She figured it was just an insecurity thing with herself. When and if she was ready, she would tell them. End of story.

Speak of the devil, Bella's text tone came from her phone in her pocket. She pulled it out and quickly opened it. It was from Will. _Hey. Will you meet me at Mako? We need to talk. _

Bella groaned. Was Will really still on this? _Especially _after she told him to forget it? She reread the text. It said to meet at Mako.

She thought about this. Mako Island. Why there? He would usually just suggest their spot on the beach. If he wanted to go to Mako, it must be serious. Maybe it wasn't even about what she was thinking. She thought about it and decided she'd go.

_Sure. I'll be there in a half an hour, _she replied. That would give him time to go there and her time to get ready. How bad could it be?

She finally got home and prepared herself for what was to come.

…

As soon as Will got Bella's reply, he jumped in his boat and started the engine. Before he knew it, he was motoring towards Mako.

He was at Mako shortly. He quickly jumped out of the book. He folded the piece of paper he brought with him, a printed page with some different information about dyslexia, and put it in his pocket.

He made the hike quite fast, for he had done it a thousand times now and knew the way quite well. He finally arrived at the moon pool, now very anxious. He looked at his watch. He still had a little time until Bella arrived.

He began to think about this all. He forgot to even prepare his own self, what he was going to say. Should he just come out and say it? Should he ease into it? He had no idea. He sighed.

He didn't have much time after all. He was taken aback when he heard bubbles in the moon pool and suddenly saw the mermaid emerge to the surface. Bella swam closer to the edge and crossed her arms on the side of the pool, resting her head on them. She put a fake smile on, though Will couldn't tell. "Hey," she greeted him.

He smiled weakly. "Hey," he returned the greeting. Her walked over and sat down on the edge of the pool and hung his feet in the water.

Bella turned to him. Her expression changed. "So, you said you wanted to talk. What about?" she asked.

Will sighed. "Yeah, I did… I, uh…"

Suddenly, he didn't know if he could do this. He had no idea what to say at all. There was a long pause before either of them spoke again. Finally, it was Bella the one who broke the silence.

"Will," she said shakily. She put her hand on his knee. "You can tell me anything."

Will took a deep breath. He knew that beating around the bush here wasn't an option. Bella wouldn't take that. He had to say it. He just had to get it out. He braced himself to hear the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

"Bella…" he said. His voice was soft and quiet. "I know you have dyslexia."

He looked at her face. It hardened, almost showing fear. Her eyes contained something beyond Will's understanding. He prepared himself for what was coming next.

On Bella's side, she was astonished. A million things ran through her mind at that moment. She had no idea what to say, what to do. She tried to swallow back tears, but she already felt them burning in her eyes. She tried to blink them away.

After a long silence, Will broke the thick silence. His voice was shaky and fragile. "Bella, please," he begged her. "Say something. Please, anything."

She nodded. Her voice matched his. Hers was barely above a whisper. "How did you find out?"

Will sighed. "I heard you talking. To Mr. Bennett."

Anger flashed across her face. "You were spying on me, were you?" she accused.

"No! No," Will tried to suppress her thought. "I was just… just trying to wait for you, even though you told me to go on ahead. While I was in the hallway, I… I just heard you and… I…" He didn't know how to complete that thought.

Bella slowly nodded again. Will heard he sniff. She looked puffy. This is exactly what he didn't want to happen.

"Bella," he coaxed. "Bella..." He lowered himself fully into the water and pulled the mermaid close to him. She put her head on his chest and he lightly stroked her blonde, wet hair. "Please, please don't cry. I'm so sorry, I'm just…"

She calmed down finally and nodded yet again. She pulled back and looked Will in his eyes. She finally had the urge to speak. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just-"

"No, Bella," Will interrupted. "You don't anything to apologize for. I should be apologizing."

Bella managed a small smile. "You've gotta stop that," she tells him.

He was confused. "Stop what?"

"This," she explained. "You need to stop living on a need-to-know basis."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"You seem to _need _to know things. If you don't understand or don't know, you _need _to. And it gets you into trouble," she explains further. "That's how you were when you found out I was a mermaid. And that's what you did with this."

Will knew she was right. He nodded. "I know," he admitted. "But…" he almost didn't know how to finish it. Why did he do that? Why does he almost go to the ends of the earth to find this out about Bella? It didn't make sense, but he finally realized as he looked up at the emotional mermaid in front of him. "IT's only because… because I care about you."

Bella half smiled. "I believe you."

They were silent for a little while, giving Will some time to think. It was here and now. He might as well get it over with. "Bella, why didn't you tell me?"

Bella thought it over. "Because I wasn't ready…" she proposed. Her voice quieted. "Because I was afraid.

Will looked at her curiously. "Why?"

She shook her head. "I didn't know what you'd say…" she eased shakily. "What you'd think…"

Will pulled his girlfriend close again. "Listen to me," he said. "I don't care that you're dyslexic. I don't care that you're a mermaid. I care about _you _for who _you _are. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes," she said almost immediately. "I do now." She smiled. Will stroked her hair again. She finally spoke again. "Will?"

"Yeah?"

She paused. She was barely audible when she said. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Bella. I love you, too."


	12. Chapter 12

Chap. 12

Will felt better now that he knew Bella's secret. He didn't want her to keep secrets from him, nor did he want her to feel like she had to. He didn't want anything to come between them.

He realized now that with these things in mind, it had caused him to do some crazy things. He felt some regret for it, too. He wished he hadn't exposed Bella to himself and he wished he would have just minded his own business with Bella's dyslexia. But he was being truthful when he said it was because he cared about Bella. It also gave him peace at mind that Bella realized this too and forgave him.

Will went into school the next day. After he got his books from his locker, he strolled down the hallway towards Bella's locker. He found her there, looking in her locker mirror playing with her hair.

Will came up behind her. She smiled as she saw his reflection in the mirror. "Hey," she greeted him as she turned around. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Will returned the kiss.

"Hey," he greeted her back. He remembers yesterday what Bella was telling him about her dyslexia.

…

*Previous day*

"So all of this…" Will asks Bella as they sit in the moon pool. "How you've been acting… It's all because of your dyslexia?"

Bella nods. "Yup," she confirms. She's speaking quietly. "I only found out on Sunday, so it was just bumming me out to a point where there was nothing I could do about it. Sorry for the way I was acting…"

"No, no, it's fine," Will reassures her. "I understand." He's careful with his questions. He doesn't want Bella to get upset with what he's saying. He doesn't know how sensitive she is about it.

"So…" he starts uncertainly. Bella looks at him expectantly. He lowers his voice. "What's it like?"

He can instantly see Bella get a little stirred up at this. He tries to correct himself. "No, no, it's ok, I'm sorry, just don't-"

"It's fine," she says, putting a hand up to stop his stumbling apology. "I just never really talked about it… Never really opened up to anyone about it…" She pauses and thinks. "I mean, I've had it all my life. I've dealt with it every day, I just didn't _know_. But it's… difficult."

Will listens tentatively as she goes on. "When I see a word… all of the other words around it just seem to move… Like they won't stand still as I try to read the one word at a time… It all just looks swirled… It's not too bad, but it does sometimes give me a headache. I'm pretty fortunate. I don't have a severe case." Will can tell Bella is having a hard time talking about it, no matter what kind of strong face she's trying to put on.

Bella knows that Will knows her too well. He outreaches his arms and Bella voluntarily goes into them, letting them keep her in his embrace. She doesn't make a sound and just lets him hold her in silence. Bella knows now how safe she can feel with Will.

And then she really knows everything will be ok.

…

Having remembered this, Will asks Bella, "How are you feeling today?"

"Better," she answers. She smiles again, but a very genuine smile. "I think I feel better having _someone _know about it."

Will nods. "I'm glad you think so." Suddenly, the bell rings. He turns back to Bella. "I've got to get to class. I'll see you later for class."

"Alright," she says. "See you." She gives him a hug.

As Will heads towards his next class, he's stopped suddenly by a hand on his arm. He turns around to see Cleo. "Hey," he says. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you," she says straightforwardly.

"Ok, what about?" he asks in reply. He follows her as she leads him down to the end of the hallway where there are no people.

She crosses her arms. "Did you talk to Bella?"

Without thinking, Will instantly replies. "Yeah." He almost smacks himself on the forehead. How could he be so stupid?

"And what'd you find out?" Cleo asks impatiently.

"Nothing really…" Will replies. He feels fidgety and nervous. He almost blew it and was trying hard to make a recovery. Failing, at that.

Cleo sees right through it and isn't happy about it. She glares at him. "You're lying," she accuses.

"No!" he says a little too quickly. He's doing a terrible job so far and it wasn't getting better. Cleo's death stare wasn't really helping either. "I mean, it's nothing… She's… fine…"

"Will," Cleo says sternly. "You knew something was going on with Bella. You pointed it out in the first place. And now, I assume you actually _do know _and you won't tell me. What's going on?" She taps her foot impatiently.

"I never said I knew what was going on with her," Will retorts. He never did, actually.

"Don't play games, Will," Cleo counters. "It seems implied."

"What if I said I _didn't _know?" Will proposes.

"Then I wouldn't believe you," Cleo says.

She obviously isn't going to let this go. Will finally caves. "Cleo…" he has a sort of plea in his voice. "It's not my secret to tell…"

"Secret?" Cleo replies. "Bella's keeping a secret?"

Will knows there's no way around this or bluffing his way out of it, so he just painfully nods. Cleo raises her eyebrows. "What's she keeping from us?" she asks.

"I told you, it's not mine to tell," Will repeats.

"But shouldn't me and Rikki have the right to know?" Cleo says. "We're her best friends, after all."

"That's not the point," Will exerts. Cleo narrows her eyes at his tone. "Bella doesn't _want _anyone to know. _I'm _not even supposed to know. It's certainly not mine to tell, it's barely mine to keep. If she wants to tell you, she will, and that's that. I can't help you." Will turns and storms off to his class.

"Will, wait!" Cleo calls, but it's too late, he's already gone.

Cleo takes out her phone and sends Rikki a text message, despite the fact that they're in school. She'll get it later.

_Hey… _It reads. _We have some things to do…_


	13. Chapter 13

Chap. 13

After Cleo's episode with Will, she had proceeded to text Rikki immediately. Something was going on, and Cleo wanted to find out what.

After Cleo explained everything to Rikki over text message, they decided to take a swim and meet at Mako Island where they could talk more privately and openly.

After the last bell rang, both girls quickly went to their lockers, got their things, and went straight home. They had decided to get to Mako as soon as possible. They met at the docks closest to the coast, where they usually started off at when swimming. They approached each other wordlessly. After a quick scan of the area, they didn't see anyone. They nodded to each other and dove beneath the surface.

They hit the water and transformed, soon to be swimming and torpedoing in the direction of Mako Island. Their swim didn't take long at all, as they were able to go very fast. When they finally reached the underwater cave to the moon pool, they each slowly swam in and emerged above the surface in the familiar pool.

They each settled themselves on a rock in the pool silently. When they each were relaxed, Cleo put it out in the open. "So," she began.

"So," Rikki repeated. She got straight to it. "Bella's keeping secrets?"

Cleo nodded. "Seems so," she says.

"So what are we going to do?" Rikki asks. They both know what's going on. They're not going to waste time.

"I don't know," Cleo says. She feels conflicted, and so does Rikki. "It's not like Bella to keep secrets, especially from us."

"Are you sure she is actually keeping a secret?" Rikki asks, just for confirmation.

"Yes," Cleo answers. "Will basically admitted it to me at school today. And worse yet, he knows what it is, but her refuses to tell me anything about it."

"Really?" Rikki asks in disbelief. "Why would she tell him but not tell us?"

"I don't really know if she did…" Cleo proposes. "Will made it sound like he wasn't actually _supposed _to know. Like it was an accident that he found out, or something."

"So then she was keeping it from all of us?" Rikki says.

"But even so, Will knows," Cleo responds.

"But that still doesn't explain _what _the secret is and _why _she's keeping it," Rikki comments.

"Right," Cleo says. "And we need to find out what it is. Whether for better or for worse."

Rikki nods. "Secrets aren't an option for us, we have too much riding on the three of us together for it to be blown by us growing apart from secrets."

"Agreed," Cleo says with a nod.

Suddenly, without warning, there are bubbles in the moon pool, and but a few seconds later, Bella emerges to the surface of the water. As soon as she comes up and takes one glance, she's already confused.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asks accusingly.

"We could ask you the same," replies Rikki.

"I asked you first," Bella shoots back. Cleo and Rikki are surprised at her intensity.

They look at each other uneasily, unsure of what to say. They can't just tell Bella that they came here specifically to talk about her and whatever she may be hiding. Cleo keeps it simple. "We just wanted to go for a swim."

"Without me?" Bella asks. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Uhm…" Rikki starts. "We, uh, thought you might be… busy, or something."

"You also kind of haven't been in the mood lately, either," Cleo adds on.

Bella narrows her eye a little. "What do you mean?" she asks suspiciously.

"You seem kind of… reserved, lately… almost like you're…" Cleo starts responding uncertainly. "… like you're hiding something."

That catches Bella, and it shows in her eyes. But by the time she tries to push it away, Cleo and Rikki have already seen it. Bella's been trying to keep down suspicions, not raise them. She was obviously failing. In the back of her mind, she wondered how she ever managed to keep her mermaid identity under wraps. She just seemed to make everyone suspicious of something. Despite this, Bella tries to bluff her way out if it. "I don't know what you're talking about," she scoffs. "I'm not hiding anything."

"That's not how Will made it sound…" Cleo mumbles.

That catches Bella, too. She raises her eyebrows. "How did Will make it sound?" she inquires somewhat viciously.

"_He _made it sounds as if you were hiding something that _none _of us are supposed to know but he knows by accident," Rikki shoots. "Care to explain that?"

Bella is unbelieving in what she hears. How could Will have let that out? Now she's questioning _his _ability to keep a secret. Especially the ones _no one _could know. She finally gets around to answering Rikki's pelted question after sorting through her thoughts. "No, I don't, actually."

"And why is that?" Rikki counters. "Something to hide?"

Bella doesn't like what she hears. Not the questions, not the tone, not anything. She makes a quick decision and decides that she needs to get out of there. And _fast. _

"Forget it, Rikki," Bella says, trying to shrug it off. "It's nothing." Bella quickly saw her opportunity before Rikki had a chance to respond as she came up with an excuse. "Listen, I have to go. There's someone I need to see." It wasn't a total lie, considering she was now planning to freak out on Will for letting go that many bits and pieces of her secret.

Cleo tries to make her stay. She hasn't heard enough yet. "Bella, wait, just please—"

Bella cuts her off by putting her hand up. "I said I have to go," she repeats, now becoming agitated, "Bye." She quickly turns and swims out with a flick of her tail and not another word.

Cleo sighs once she's gone. "Well, _that _went well," she comments sarcastically. She looks at Rikki with a sour expression. "I don't think you handled that very well."

Rikki gets defensive. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Did you want to find out or not?"

"Yeah, I do. But not like that." Cleo motions around her slightly. "See where it got us?"

Rikki sighs too. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. She knows she blew it. "We'll think of something else," she says reassuringly.

"I hope so," Cleo replies. "Start thinking now."

"Yeah, I will," Rikki responds. "Listen, we should probably get going soon."

Cleo nods. "You're right. We'll try and figure this out tomorrow."

"Alright, let's go." Both girls dive beneath the surface of the pool and swim out.

They now needed a Plan B.


	14. Chapter 14

Chap. 14

Bella quickly swam out of the moon pool and torpedoed towards the shore. She could feel tears burn in the back of her eyes, but it didn't matter through the saltwater.

Bell couldn't take it. She didn't know what to do. She had just planned to keep her dyslexia to herself, knowing that it wasn't important and shouldn't matter in her friendship. But the their suspicions all rose to the surface, and with that, she had only dug herself in to a deeper hole with it.

She didn't get. Why wouldn't she tell them? Will knew, anyhow, but the was an unfortunate accident for her. She knew it wasn't a big deal, but she was holding it back. Rikki and Cleo were her best friends, and she knew she could trust them, but she wasn't about to tell them. Why?

Bella finally realized. It's not that she didn't trust them, and it wasn't necessarily her fears with it, either. What she really knew was that it was all going way to fast. It wasn't that she _couldn't _tell them; it was that she wasn't _ready _to tell them. She and they needed to be ok with that.

But they weren't. They were being like Will, for one reason or another, they _had _to know. Bella hated this. Why did _everyone _seem to need to know _everything? _Maybe they were like Will in more way than one. Maybe they only were doing it because they cared about her. She hoped this was the reason.

But right now, she had another thing to deal with. Will.

Will. She was particularly angry with him right now. He had given away things he had no business telling to the girls. She knew she could trust him, but she was wondering within herself to what extent. Could she really, truly trust him?

She didn't want to think about that. She knew he could trust Will, and she didn't want herself thinking about it too much and convincing herself otherwise. That was the last thing she needed. There was probably an entirely viable reason this had occurred. At least she hoped.

She finally was able to cut off her thoughts when she arrived back at shore. She quickly emerged to the surface, looked around, and headed for a small piece of secluded beach she saw in the distance. She made her way there and pulled herself up on to the sand. She shook out her hair and the twisted her hand over her tail, using her power to turn the water droplets on her tail into little pieces of jelly. She brushed them off and watched her legs return.

Bella stands up and brushes sand off her shorts. Reaches her hand in her pocket and finds her phone, which has also now returned along with her clothes. She flipped it open and sent a text message to Will. _Hey. Meet me on our spot on the beach in fifteen minutes. We need to talk._

Bella awaited anxiously for his reply. When it finally came, she flipped it open to see what he said. _Ok, _was all it said. No questions or excuses. _That _at least made Bella feel a little better.

She started off down the beach towards the spot where her and Will usually met up. She wasn't to far from the spot and reached it within ten minutes, leaving about five minutes for her to think over what she was going to say to Will.

She sat down on one of the sea rocks and sighed. What should she say? She didn't want to sound angry, even though she was. She just wanted to understand. She knew at this point that she needed him through this, and she wasn't about to let anything come between her and Will, especially at a time like this.

Finally, Will comes up behind Bella and puts his arms around her waist. He rests his head on her shoulder and smiles at her. "Hey."

"Hey," she replies weakly. He remove his arms and walks around to sit on a rock next to her.

"What's wrong?" he asks when he sees her facial expression, now concerned for his girlfriend.

She shrugs. "Nothing," she answers. Her face becomes serious. "But we need to talk."

"We've been talking a lot lately, haven't we?" he asks with a light chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. He gets serious too. "But alright, what about?"

Bella gets straight to it. "Will, what did you tell Cleo and Rikki about this?" She tries not to sound to angry, but she wants to be forward.

"Ahh…" He groans guiltily. Bella doesn't see this as a good sign. His voice carries guilt, too. "Bella, it was nothing, I swear—"

She cuts him off. "Don't play around, Will. What'd you say?"

"Nothing!" he defends. He concedes. "Before I knew about your dyslexia, I went to the girls about my concern for you, too…"

"You what?" Bella asks, exasperated. "Why?"

"They're your best friends!" he explains. "I thought they might know what was going on with you. I didn't want anything to be wrong…"

Bella reluctantly accepts this and makes him go on. "And?"

"And when they told me they didn't know anything, I tried to set out for it myself," he explains. "I eventually figured it out, but I didn't go to the girls because I knew you wanted to keep it to yourself."

"Then how did they find anything out?" Bella asks with crossed arms.

Will sighs. "The other day, they checked back in with me to see if I had found anything. I tried to tell them I didn't, but whatever I did, I did it wrong. Cleo saw straight through it." He pauses, knowing this next part is something he doesn't want to have to explain to someone he cares this much about in this situation. "She… she wouldn't let it go… finally I told her that it wasn't mine to tell."

"Oh, Will…" Bella says. She doesn't like what she's hearing, but she knows there was nothing Will could do about it with the situation he was in.

"That's as far as they know," Will tries to make it sound better. "I also made at sound as if _I _wasn't supposed to know, since I'm not, in order to make it sound better." He sighs. "But, Bella, I'm so sorry… Is there any way you could forgive me?"

It doesn't take Bella long to nod. "Of course I can," she reaches over and hugs him. "It wasn't your fault."

Will willingly takes Bella's embrace. Although she can't see it, over her shoulder, a smile of relief crosse Will's face.

"Don't worry," he reassures her. "We'll get through this."

Bella knows this to be more than true. "Together," she says quietly.

"Yes," Will says. "Together."


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi readers! I wanted to thank you guys all for the wonderful reviews I'm getting for this story! I didn't really know how you guys would like this story, and I'm glad to see that you're enjoying it. Thank you to my faithful readers who come back and read every chapter, leave a review, favorite me and check out my other stories. An author is nothing without great support! Thank you guys! God bless you all! **

**Oh, and Diontae! First off, Thank you so much! Second, yes, I update often. I don't update every day, but I update every other day to every two or so days. It's never usually more than that unless I have severe writers block (once I had writers block for two weeks! It was terrible, but it wasn't for this story.). **

**-Colemet**

Chap. 15

After Will apologizes for accidently spilling to Cleo and Rikki, he invites Bella over to his boat house.

"Want to come hang out at my place? We can stop by the café and get smoothies, too, if you'd like," Will offers.

Bella shakes her head. "No, it's ok, Will, you don't have to g—"

"Please," Will interrupts her as they approach the café. "It's the least I can do after I was so stupid."

Bella smiles in a way. "I told you it wasn't your fault." She tries.

Will puts his arm around her and smiles. "Still," he tells her. "I'm doing it because I _want _to." Bella smiles and finally reluctantly agrees. Will guides her in to the café. They walk in and see Zane behind the counter.

"Hey guys," Zane says as the couple approaches the counter. "What are you two doing here?"

Will smiles. "Just getting a smoothie." He glances at the menu. "Two strawberries, please."

"Coming right up," says Zane as Will hands him the money. He refuses it. "Please, you guys are friends. No need to pay."

That was a nice surprise, for both Will and Bella. "Thanks, Zane," Bella says with gratitude. Zane nods.

Will turns to Bella. "See? We didn't even have to pay," he says matter-of-factly. They both laugh.

Zane talks to them while he makes their drinks. He looks at Bella with concern. "Are you alright?" Bella looks confused. Znae explains himself. "Rikki and Cleo have been worried about you."

When Bella heard this, she got angry. She groaned loudly, angrily stormed off, and dropped in a booth with her arms crossed over her chest.

She couldn't believe this. What, did they decide to go and tell the whole nation? Why was _everyone _involved with this? It was quite annoying to Bella. She thought everyone just needed to mind their own business.

She started to get worried. How long could she really keep this up before the truth had to come out? How far would she go, how long could this last? She didn't want to think about it, because she knew whatever answr it was she wouldn't be ready for it.

She sighed loudly. She was tired of all these secrets. But she didn't have any other option. It was just part of life, something she would always have to deal with. Secrets.

Meanwhile, Zane, at this point, is looking extremely confused as he watched Bella storm off to the booth. He looked back over to Will. By the look on Will's face, Zane obviously knew that Will knew what was going on. He questioned. "What's her problem?"

Will just shook his head. "Let it go, mate." He walked off quickly to join Bella, leaving Zane alone and confused to make their smoothies.

Will came to the booth. Bella didn't look at him as he approached; she was too busy looking down. Will sat down next to her. "Hey," he said gently. She still wouldn't look at him. He brushed a stray blonde hair from her face. "Are you ok?"

"No," Bella said plainly. She shook her head.

Will sighed. "Bella, look…" he started. She turned to him and interrupted.

"Why can't anyone just mind their own business?" Bella snapped. Will could tell it was something that she was just dying to burst out and say. Relief spread slightly on her face now that she did. Will only shook his head.

"Bella, you're looking at it all wrong," he told her. She tilts her head in confusion, in wanting an explanation. Will went on. "They're only asking because they're your friends. They care about you…" His voice got quiet. "I care about you."

Bella looked at him sweetly. "I know…" she said. Her face changed and she gave a little joking half smile. "But can't they care a little less?"

Will laughed lightly. "I'm sorry, but no. You're too wonderful not to care too much about." This made Bella really smile.

She shook her head. "This is just a mess," she said. "She turned to face him, her expression serious now. She sighed. "I don't know what to do."

Will moved himself closer to Bella and put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. He finally responded. "Maybe you should just tell them," he suggested.

Bella shook her head. "No way," she said immediately. "I'm not ready for that."

Will was trying to think up all of the solutions he possibly could. "Then let me tell hem for you."

"No, Will!" she said sternly. Will put his hands up in surrender. Bella relaxed a little. "This is something I need to do by myself. I can't have anyone do it for me." She paused and lowered her voice. "This is my problem."

Will kissed her head. "It's not a problem," he tells her. "It's a struggle. And we all have them. Yours just happens to be called dyslexia."

She nods. "I know," she said. "It's just like when I told you I was a mermaid. I had to take it slowly. But I finally did. And that's what this is like." She stops. Finally, she says, "I'm just glad I have you here to help me."

Will smiles, although Bella can't see. "I'll _always _be here to help you. No matter what. Always know that."

"I do know that," Bella says. She smiles too. She wraps her arms around him now. "Thank you," she whispers.

"You're welcome," he replies. They sit there and hold each other's embrace for a while, not knowing what else to do. Will glances up and sees their smoothies on the counter. "Come on," he tells Bella. "Let's go."

They let go of each other, but the minute their out of the booth, their hands are interlocked together.

Bella wonders if this is what love feels like. Someone to always be there, someone who always cares. Someone who will never let you down.

She decides it is.


	16. Chapter 16

Chap. 16

**Ok, I now realized while writing this that their teacher's name is Mr. Bennett, who has the same last name as Zane. That was totally coincidental and happened by accident, but Zane and Mr. Bennett aren't related at all. Just want to make that clear. Sorry 'bout that one guys… Anyway, on with the story! :)**

**-Colemet**

Cleo and Rikki decided to walk to school with each other the next day. It went without saying that they needed to sort out this Bella thing, and fast. After things went bad at the moon pool yesterday, they established they needed a plan B.

"What do you think we should do?" Cleo asked Rikki when she saw her. She didn't even bother to say hi, she knew there were more important things they needed to worry about now, and the walk to school wasn't entirely too far.

Rikki shrugs and shakes her head. "I don't know," she responds. "Any ideas?" Rikki couldn't really think of any herself, so she was hoping Cleo would have something.

"Not really," Cleo says. They cross the street to get to the next block in silence, both thinking.

"Since talking to Bella didn't exactly work, what do we try next?" asks Rikki.

Cleo gives her a disapproving glance. "I don't think what you did yesterday helped at all," she says. Her tone is almost accusing.

Rikki concedes. She knows she messed up. "I said I was sorry. I just did it without thinking, and I know it was stupid. But now we need to come up with something else."

Cleo shrugged. "Maybe we _should _try talking to her again. You know, apologize and start over."

Rikki didn't know how that sounded to her. "Eh… Let's try and think of something else before we go back to talking to her. I don't really feel like revisiting what happened yesterday."

They walked in silence, both thinking, trying to come up with an alternate plan. Cleo finally spoke, interrupting Rikki's own thinking. "The only other solution I can think of for this is going to Will. And that won't be easy."

"He already refused once," Rikki pointed out.

Cleo nods. "I know. Which is why it will be hard, but it seems like our only other option right now."

Rikki nods in agreement. "You might be right."

They're both silent for another. Cleo once again breaks the silence with a sigh. She shakes her head. "I'm just worried about Bella. Whatever she's hiding from us, it seems to have been tearing her up a little this week. She's been better lately, but the beginning of the week just seemed terrible for her. I hope she's okay…"

"Me too," Rikki agrees. "I don't want us to be torn apart by secrets and I don't want her to be torn apart by her keeping her own secrets inside, either. At least she has Will now, I suppose…"

"Yeah, but still…" Cleo replies. "The whole thing has just shaken me up a little bit."

Rikki nods. "I know. Me too," she says.

Finally, they approach the school. As they do, they talk about what they're going to do about Will…

…

Will climbs the stairs to his locker on the third floor, same as all of the other seniors. He sees Bella and passes her with a smile. He decides he'll visit her later, after he gets his books from his own locker.

He finally gets there and dials in the combination. It swings open after he does and he puts his back pack inside. He gets out his books when suddenly, Cleo and Rikki appear next to his locker.

"Uh, hey guys, what's-" Cleo cuts him off.

"We need to talk," she says. She grabs his wrist and begins pulling him along. Rikki slams his locker closed. He groans. _Oh no, _ he thinks. _Not this again…_

Cleo finally stops pulling him when they find an empty stairwell. "What?" Will asks impatiently.

Both girls cross their arms. "We want to know what's wrong with Bella," Rikki says straight out.

Will's chest tightens. He thinks before he says anything. After what happened before, he's not going to dare let anything else out. It wouldn't be fair to Bella. He gulps. "There's nothing wrong with her," he tells them. It's the truth. There really _isn't _something wrong with her…

"Fine," Cleo says. "Then what's _up _with Bella? We know you're both hiding _something._"

Will sighs. "Cleo, Rikki, I told you, it's not mine to tell. You have to at least understand that."

Cleo looks at me pleadingly. "Will, we do. But we also care about Bella, and we don't want anything to be wrong and we don't want her to keep secrets from us."

"I know you don't, and so do I, but…" Will starts.

"Then why won't you tell us?" Rikki offers.

Will sighs again. "Because this is Bella's thing, not mine. I only know, but it has nothing to do with me. If you want to know, talk to her about it."

"We tried that," Rikki says.

"Sort of…" Cleo mutters.

Rikki shoots her a glance. "—and it didn't go well. You're our only hope."

Will's keeping his ground. "Sorry, but you guys are on your own. If you don't want to talk to her, she'll tell you when she's ready. Other than that, I can't help you." Just like last time, Will ends and turns around and walks in the other direction.

The only difference this time is that they're not yelling for him to stop.

…

Bella is sitting in her next class, her Calculus class. She's finished her work and now lost in her thoughts.

She thinks about all that's happened over the past week. Her finding out about her dyslexia, Will finding out, her friends' raising suspicions, and a whole lot more.

Like before, Bella's been finally getting used to the idea of her dyslexia, and she's accepting it. It's just another part of her life. She's almost so accepting, she thinks she's ready to tell Rikki and Cleo. That is, until the note arrives on her desk.

She looks at her classmate who handed it to her with a questioning look. He points three rows over where Will is sitting, signalizing that it was from him. Bella unfolds the note. _We need to talk, _is all it says.

Bella becomes anxious. _Oh-no, _she thinks. _What now? _She can't sit through the rest of the class. She looks at the clock and realizes there's only ten minutes left of class left.

Bella manages to sit through the last minutes of class, but as soon as the bell rings, she springs out of her seat and heads for the hallway. Will meets her at the door.

She holds up the note. "What's this about?"

Will looks at her seriously as they walk to their next class. "Cleo and Rikki were asking about you again today."

Bella groans aloud. "Why can't they let it go?" she asks, almost yelling.

"Shh…" Will says, trying to calm her down. "Relax."

Bella sighs. That small urge she had before to tell Cleo and Rikki about her dyslexia had all but vanished now. "It's just so frustrating, Will," she says, trying to calm down.

He puts his arm around her. "I know, Bella," he coaxes her. There's a silence. Will breaks it. "Bella…?"

"Hm?" she asks in reply.

Will sighs. "I think you need to tell them."

"I will when I'm ready," Bella responds. She didn't feel it now.

"I think you need to be ready soon," he offers. "You guys can't go on like this, and you have to clear this up before things start to turn ugly."

"I told you, Will, I'm doing this on my terms. This is my issue, and I'll handle it the way I want to," Bella responds.

Will puts his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Just a suggestion. But promise me one thing, Bella."

"Anything," she replies.

"Don't let this come between us. Don't let your stubborness come between you."

"I'm not-!"

"Bella. Promise me."

"Ok. I promise."


	17. Chapter 17

Chap. 17

Cleo and Rikki thought all weekend about what was going on with Bella. Despite their efforts, they didn't have a clue what was up with her. They were disappointed that things hadn't worked out with Will, so they were trying to come up with their discussed plan B.

All weekend neither of them thought of anything. Finally, after what seemed like a long amount of time, Cleo texted Rikki. _Hey, _it read. _Any ideas for Bella?_

It didn't take long for Rikki's reply to come. _Not a thing_, she replied. _You?_

_Nothing, _Cleo replied. Both girls on the different ends sighed.

Both girls at this point were anxious and worried. What was wrong with their friend? And slightly, without saying it, they both felt a little betrayed. Bella was their best friend. Why would she keep something from them? And more importantly, what could she possibly be hiding anyway? It was confusing and overwhelming for the Rikki and Cleo. Both of them feared for the future of the three girls' friendship.

Finally, Rikki's reply rang on Cleo's cell phone in her lap. She flipped it open. _So what are we going to do? _Despite Rikki's question, that was the thing. They didn't know what to do.

Cleo replied with the only thing she could think of, which also happened to be their last resort as well. _We have to try and talk to her again. Try and get it out of her somehow. We just have to let her know our intentions are good. _She sent it.

When Rikki opened the message, she shook her head. She was still skeptical of trying to talk about it. She didn't think it would work. Maybe it was because she was the one who messed it up. She just didn't have a good feeling about it. She sent a text back. _Are you sure that's a good idea?_

Cleo's reply came soon. Rikki anxiously opened it. _It' all we've got. _Rikki sighed. She k new Cleo was right, she just wished she wasn't.

_Alright, _she finally replied. _Let's tell her to meet at Mako. _Rikki thinks it's the best place.

Cleo gets the message. She immediately texts Bella. _Hey, wanna go for a swim?_

_Sure, _Bella's reply says. _Now? _

_Yeah, _replies Cleo. _See you there_

Cleo proceeds to text Rikki back_. Good to go, _he writes. _Meet at Mako ASAP. _

Rikki doesn't even take time to reply. Instead, she heads out for the coast to go straight to Mako.

Soon, Rikki, Bella, and Cleo are all in the water, mermaids under the sea, torpedoing through the ocean blue towards Mako Island. They almost all arrived at the underwater moon pool cave entrance at the same time. They smile at each other through the salty blue liquid around them. They slow down and slowly make their way in to the cave.

They all emerge to the surface. Bella is the first one to speak. She has a smile on her face. "Hey," she says cheerily. "What's up?"

"Nothing!" Cleo replies, a little too quickly and a little too squeaky. Bella looks at her peculiarly. Rikki, however, rolls her eyes. She knows Cleo isn't good at this kind of thing. Rikki tries to cover it up by trying to situate herself in the water. Bella doesn't buy it. She knows them too well.

She looks slowly from Cleo to Rikki. "What's up…?" she asks slowly this time. She doesn't want to mess around, especially with her best friends.

Rikki sighs. She knows there's no way around us. "Bella…" she starts. "We're worried about you."

Bella looks confused. "Worried about me?" she asks. "Why?" She says it almost with a chuckle.

Cleo decides to get serious and to the point too. "Bella, are you hiding something from us?" she asks anxiously. "_That's _why we're worried."

Bella's face falls. She tries to cover it up. "Why would you think I'm hiding something?"

"Because we know you are," Rikki replies. "You're not yourself. And Will seems to have said it himself…"

"Bella, please," Cleo chimes, trying to make it sound better. "We only have your best interest in mind."

Bella seems angry now. "Then you should stop worrying," she says firmly.

"No, but Bella, we just—" Rikki starts, but Bella cuts her off.

"But nothing!" Bella goes off. "I'm my own person. You don't need to know everything. Just stop!"

"Bella, we just don't want anything to come between us as friends," Cleo defends. "We can't risk losing you."

Bella calms down a little. She realizes that they really _do _have her best interest in mind and only because they care about her. She sighs. Just like Will. She groans now too. Why did people have to care about her so much? "Look," she starts off. "I know you guys are worried and I know you guys care. But really, I'm fine. But I won't let it come between us. I promise. And I already promised… Will."

Cleo nods. Rikki stays still. Before Rikki can say anything, Cleo does. "Ok," she says quietly. "We get it."

Bella nods. "Ok." She decides it's a good time to duck out. She doesn't want to deal with more, and she hopes at this point that she's gotten through to them. "Listen, I have to go. I have other things to do."

"Ok," Cleo repeats. "We'll see you later." Rikki remains quiet.

Bella gives a half smile and a slight nod. She dives below the surface and swims away. Now it's just Cleo and Rikki.

Rikki finally speaks up. "Alright," she says, breaking her personal silence. "I told you talking wouldn't work. Now what are we going to do?"

Cleo looks at her seriously. "Nothing," she answers.

Rikki looks at her across the moon pool like she's crazy. "What?" she asks unbelievingly. "We have to do something, I mean—"

Cleo cuts her off. "No, Rikki," Cleo says firmly. "We need to let this go. You heard Bella, she basically said it's nothing. We need to stop prying because it's none of our business. Bella's fine. I'm sure you have secrets, too." Rikki blushes. Cleo continues. "So we need to respect Bella's privacy. We need to let it go."

Rikki sighs. She doesn't like what she's hearing. "But, Cleo—"

She's cut off again. "Promise me, Rikki. Promise you'll let it go." Cleo is really serious.

Rikki rolls her eyes and sighs. "Alright, I'll let it go," she reluctantly agrees.

Relief crosses Cleo's face. "Thank you," she says. "Now let's go. We've got to study for a our math test on Tuesday."

"Right," Rikki says. "Let's go." They dive down beneath the surface.

As Rikki does, she's not so sure about the promise she made to Cleo…


	18. Chapter 18

Chap. 18

The next day at school, there was tension between the three girls. Every encounter they had together seemed awkward. Bella tried to keep down suspicions, Cleo was trying to act like everything was normal and Rikki was trying to figure out what to make of the situation. It was confusing for all of them.

The three girls met up in the hallway to talk. Bella approached Rikki and Cleo. She gave them a smile. "Hey, guys," she said. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," Cleo replied. "We have English next." Cleo frowned. Something about their encounter here with each other seemed awkward, it didn't feel like the usual, easy-going air the three friends usually possessed when they were around one another. It didn't seem right.

Rikki nodded. She looked to Bella. "So… how are you doing?"

"Fine," Bella replied nonchalantly.

"Are you… ok?" she asked. Cleo shot her a glance.

Bella gives her a strange expression. "Yeah…" he says slowly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Rikki tries to recover. "Oh, uh, no, I just… uh…"

Luckily, Rikki was saved by the bell.

Bella looks behind her at the clock and then back at her friends. "Listen, we have to get to English before we get written up." Bella knew Mr. Bennett wouldn't write her up, but she wanted an excuse to escape the awkward that the three of them were all mutually feeling. "Let's go."

Cleo and Rikki gave a nod. Bella started off in the direction of their next class and Cleo and Rikki followed. Despite at first keeping up with her, Cleo holds Rikki and causes them to fall behind intentionally. Rikki gives her a look. "What?"

Cleo gives her an exasperated look. "What was that about?" she asks sternly.

Rikki frantically shrugs and tries to defend herself. "I don't know, I just…" She can't think of a defense.

"We specifically agreed to let it go, remember?" Cleo reprimanded Rikki. "You can't bring that up like that."

"I didn't mean to!" Rikki says. She crosses her arms and gives Cleo a disapproving look. "It doesn't seem as if you've let it go, either." They walk and talk, still keeping a steady pace and safe distance behind Bella in order not to be overheard.

Cleo looks at her dismissively. "What are you talking about?"

Rikki gives her another look. "Oh, come on," she says. "Don't act like you're not thinking about it, too. You even got that that's what I was letting on to before."

Cleo rolls her eyes. "You're crazy."

Rikki smirks at her. "Maybe, but I'm not stupid." They finally come to a flight of steps leading to the next level where their English class is. They both climb, Rikki anxious for Cleo's reply.

Cleo gives her a desperate look. "Fine, I'm wondering, too," she finally admits. She changes her expression. "But I'm serious. We need to let it go, or at least push it to the back of our minds. We agreed to respect Bella's privacy and that's what we're going to do. Understand?"

Rikki chuckles. "Now you sound like Emma."

Cleo rolls her eyes again. "Rikki, I'm serious. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mum…" Rikki says sarcastically. Cleo gives up.

They finally arrive at the classroom. When they enter, there's only a few people in the classroom, and two of them are Bella and Will, who are already sitting. Mr. Bennett is sitting behind his desk reading something on his computer and drinking coffee from a mug. The air is quiet and distinct around them as Rikki and Cleo sit down, feeling somehow out of place. It's the awkward air again.

Bella notices it, too. She tries to release it. "Did you guys do the homework?"

Cleo nods while Rikki shakes her head. That doesn't help. Before anything else can happen, Mr. Bennett starts the class. "Ok, class!" His voice rings as the last of the students enter the classroom. "Get out your text books and turn to page 182." All of the students obey.

Will, although he has his textbook out, is still focused on the moment that just happened before their teacher started talking. He looked back and forth from Bella on his left and the two other girls on his right. What had happened, and even the air now, just seemed… uneasy. Something wasn't right.

For the rest of the class, Will made his way through the worksheet and observed to girls through the rest of the class. They seemed almost as if they didn't want to talk to each other. Sometimes, it seemed as if they would go to speak, but then decide against it and close their mouths. And at the few times when they did speak, it wasn't right. They didn't have that fluent, natural air that they usually had around one another. It almost seemed tense.

Will was confused. He didn't know what was going on. Why were the girls acting so weird?

Then it hit him. Oh no, he thought. Exactly what he didn't want to happen was happening. Bella' secret was coming between her friendships, just not in the way expected. She had promised Will she wouldn't do that, but it was almost too late now. Will needed to take matters in to his own hands.

He shook his head. This couldn't happen. He couldn't let this happen. He needed a plan, and fast, before the girls stopped speaking for good. And by the look of it , that day might be coming sooner than ever anticipated on his part.

But what does he do? How does he go about it? Does he just tell the girls? No, he already told himself a million times not to do that. Tell Bella to tell them? No, he'd tried that to, doing it even yet again would be just pushy to her. Have Cleo and Rikki figure it out? It was a good idea, but he had nowhere else to go with it. Make Bella tell them?

It clicked. That's all he could really do. He somehow had to make Bella tell them, no amount of convincing would make her, she was too stubborn. The only way this was possible was by force. Will wished he didn't have to do this, but it's the only way to get through this. He knows that the girls will thank him later.

So how exactly did he go about this? He had no clue. All he knew is that he had to get Bella in a position where she had no other choice but to tell them. He was going to need some help. But who from?

As he looked around the room, the idea came to him.


	19. Chapter 19

Chap. 19

Bella stayed after class once again to talk to Mr. Bennett. Will offered to walk with her again, but she refused and told him to go along. As everyone left, she gathered all of her things and went up to Mr. Bennett's desk.

He was typing on his computer when she approached. He slightly turned to look at her but then looked back. "Ah, Bella," he says, even though his attention is away from her. "How's it going?" Bella doesn't move.

When Bella doesn't answer, Mr. Bennett turns his attention away from his computer and back to the teenage girl. He sees her expression and looks at her curiously. "What's wrong?" he asks.

Bella gives a solemn nod. "Will knows." That's all she says.

Mr. Bennett understands. He nods now too. He looks at Bella and raises an eyebrow. "You told him?"

Bella shakes her head. "No," she tells him. "He found out." When she sees Mr. Bennett's confused expression, she saves him the trouble and explains. "Last time I was in here talking to you, Will was out in the hallway and he heard me admit that I had dyslexia while I was talking to you." She crosses her arms and scoffs at herself. "I should have been more careful."

Mr. Bennett shakes his head. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You didn't know he was out there."

"I should have suspected, then," she replies with edge. "It's Will, after all…"

Mr. Bennett shrugs. "You live and learn," he tells her. He looks at her questioningly again. "So how's he taking it?"

Bella nods. She decides she might be a while here, so she sits on top of a desk. "He's taking it fine," she reassures her teacher. She gives the slight of a silly smile at the memory of what Will had said to her. "Will's a very… understanding kind of guy…"

Mr. Bennett nods. "I see," he replies. "What about your other friends?"

Bella's slight smile vanishes. She groans in her head. "That's a different story…"

"Uh-oh…." Mr. Bennett says in that sing-song-y way. "What's happening?"

Bella sighs. She'd rather not talk about it, but she can't really keep any of this from Mr. Bennett. He's too far involved now. She shrugs. "They're suspicious, and they can't seem to let it go. I'm worried… It's only a matter of time before they somehow find out… and I don't want that to happen." She mutters to herself. "I wonder how I'm even managing to keep secrets anyway…"

Mr. Bennett tries to ignore Bella's last comment, which he wasn't intended to hear. "Did you consider telling them?"

Now Bella groans outwardly. "Ugh!" Mr. Bennett puts his hands up in surrender. She looks at him apologetically. "Sorry… It' just… I don't want to tell them. I don't think I'm ready."

Mr. Bennett considers this. "Would you rather have them find out on their own?"

Bella looks down uncertainly. "I… I don't know…"

Mr. Bennett nods. "Try and think of what's best, Bella."

She hated that he was right. But then again, what Bella thought may have been what's best, too. She still didn't know.

Something catches Bella. "Mr. Bennett…" He looks at her expectantly. She goes on. "How do you know so much about this? How are you so good with it?"

He gives her a knowing smile. "Because I went through the exact same thing at your age," he says slowly.

Bella looked at him in disbelief. "You have…"

"Dyslexia?" he finishes for her. He nods frantically. "Yes, I do."

Bella can't believe it. Her own English teacher has dyslexia. And he went through the same exact thing Bella is going through. Bella chuckles in her head. She wonders if he was a mermaid too.

"It's nice to know I'm not the only one," she tells him. "I've never known anyone else with dyslexia."

Mr. Bennett smiles. "Can't say that anymore, huh?" They both laugh. Mr. Bennett looks at Bella seriously. "But I get it, Bella. I know what you're going through. But just remember, it'll be ok."

"I believe you," she replies in all honestly. Bella looks over Mr. Bennett. Maybe he was a lot more trustworthy than she was giving him credit for.

Bella looks up at the clock. It's almost 12:15. "I have to go to lunch," she tells her teacher. "But I'll see you tomorrow."

Mr. Bennett nods. "Alright," he says. "I'll see you then."

Bella starts towards the door. Once she's almost through, she turns around. "Oh, and Mr. Bennett?" He looks up at her. She smiles. "Thanks."

He returns the smile. "You're welcome, Bella."

Bella walks happily to lunch. She feels a lot better knowing that she's not completely alone anymore.

…

Little did Bella know that while she was talking to her English teacher, Will was devising plans of his own. Class let out and he rushed out of the classroom in to the hallway. Not far behind him was Rikki. When he saw her come out, he grabbed her arm to stop her from going any further. She turned to face him. Before she could say anything, Will spoke. "I need to talk to you."

Rikki shrugged. "Ok, what's up?" They both began walking towards the lunch room.

"What's going on between you three?" he asks determinedly. "What was going on… you guys didn't seem… normal."

Rikki chuckles. "Well, we _are _mermaids…"

Will shushes her. "Keep your voice down."

Rikki rolls her eyes. "Lighten up, Will."

Will just shakes his head. "Whatever. Now what's going on?"

Rikki shrugs. "I don't know… It's just kind of… awkward."

"Why?" Will asks as they walk along.

Rikki sighs. After a long period of silence, she finally concedes. "We tried talking to her about the whole secret thing you guys are keeping from us again." She sees Will goes red. He feels his face heat up. "Things just got… weird, after that."

Will sighs. "I should have known…" Will turns to Rikki seriously. "I told Bella she couldn't let this happen."

"Yeah, well…" Rikki says. "We told Bella a lot of things. Including to stay away from you, but as you can see, she doesn't listen very well." Will goes red again. "What did you tell her not to do?"

"I told her she couldn't let her secret come between your guys' friendship. He groans loudly. "Shoot!" he yells.

"Calm down," Rikki tells him. "If it's causing so much trouble, why don't you just tell us?"

Will sighs. "I told you, I can't."

Rikki tries to humor this. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Will shakes his head. "I can't tell you what Bella's keeping from you guys. But I can help you," he tells Rikki.

She narrows her eyes at him. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure yet…" he admits. "But that's why I came to you."

"We need to do something," Rikki says.

"Right," Will says when they finally arrive at the lunch room. "We have to _make _her tell you."


	20. Chapter 20

Chap. 20

Bella felt better going through the rest of the day. She felt a lot better knowing that she wasn't alone with her dyslexia. Mr. Bennett was a great teacher, and he understood Bella and her situation very well, which also made Bella feel better.

Bella made it through lunch, too. She was in such a great mood that she didn't even notice the silence from her other friends and the strange glances that were passed between Will and Rikki. She noticed it a little bit, but she was too happy to care and tried not to think too much of it.

After lunch, Bella had chemistry with Will. He met her at her locker to walk her to class. He greeted her with a warm smile. "Hey you," he said. "Ready for chemistry?"

"Yup." She grinned back at him.

They held hands and walked through the hallway to their class. When they got there, they took their normal seats next to one another. Bella and Will were both surprised when Mr. Bennett walked in to their class instead of their normal teacher.

"Mr. Bennett," Will inquired. "What are you doing here?"

Their teacher shrugged. "Your normal teacher left after he got sick this afternoon, so they had me sub in for him." He leaned down to the height of Bella's and Will's heads and whispered. "Never eat the tacos in the teacher lounge." Will and Bella both laughed.

"Ok, class!" Mr. Bennett instructed the class, just as he did in their normal class. He picked up a piece of paper on the teacher's desk and read over it. "Your teacher left me instructions that says you're to complete a lab project in pairs." He shrugged. Sounded simple enough. "Everyone find a partner."

Bella and Will instantly grabbed each other's hands. They were always partners for labs. More times than not, it involved water, so Will would handle that for Bella since he knew her secret.

Mr. Bennett looked around the room. When he was satisfied with the fact that everyone had a partner, he began passing around worksheets. He gave more directions. "Ok, here is your assignment for this period. The instructions are listed. Everyone move to a lab table. Your materials will already be at your station. Now get to work."

All of the students migrated to the back of the room where the lab tables were. For the lab, they had to take ice and heat it, measuring temperatures as it increased.

It was easy enough. Will would just handle the water while Bella recorded the results.

Everything was going fine. Mr. Bennett was walking around the room inspecting everyone's work. Kids were moving around the room, going to get supplies, paper towels, or pencils.

Will and Bella were doing well. They had gotten their initial ice to water and it was beginning to bubble slightly and produce a small amount of steam.

"What's the temperature now?" she asked Will.

"Um… I don't know," he tells her. "I can't read it through the steam. I'll lift it of the burner so I can see better."

"Alright," Bella says. "Be careful."

Will steadily takes the hot beaker by the mouth of it in his hands and holds it up. He tries to read off the temperature to Bella. "Uhm… it says-"

Will gets cut off. In spite of Bella's warnings, Will was being careful. But unfortunately another student wasn't.

While passing behind Will, a boy with freckles and glasses knocked in to Will's shoulder when he tripped over a stool. The impact caused the beaker to slip out of Will's grasp, launching it towards Bella, causing the liquid to spill all over her forearm.

The near boiling water splashes all over Bella. She lets out a cry of pain, clutching her forearm. By this time, Will and Bella are both already on their feet. Will is pushing Bella towards the door. "Go!" he yells to her.

She hurries towards the door. Mr. Bennett tries to stop her. "Bella, you can't-" But she ignores him an runs out of the room anyway. Mr. Bennett turns to Will. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Will says hastily. "She just spilled some really hot water on her forearm and she just…" He didn't know how to complete that sentence.

Mr. Bennett looked alarmed. "Oh gosh. I'll go make sure she's ok."

"No, sir, I really don't think that's a good-" But it's too late. Mr. Bennett ignores him to and is already out the door.

When Mr. Bennett leaves the room, the hallway is empty and quiet. The only noise is the distinct click of a door shutting only a few classrooms down. Mr. Bennett walks towards the sound. He finds himself in front of the door of an empty classroom.

He peers through the window but he doesn't go in or make is presence known. Though the window he can see, there, laying on the floor, is a girl with a long, golden tail and a red burn on her arm that travels all the way up her forearm. A mermaid. Bella.

Mr. Bennett takes a step back from the door. He almost smiles to himself.

Why is he not surprised?

…

After everything in Chemistry seemingly blew over with Bella's mishap, Will went back to focusing on getting Bella to reveal her secret to Rikki and Cleo. He wasn't having much luck coming up with ideas. Neither was Rikki.

They both had decided to keep Cleo out of this one. Rikki explained to Will about their episodes at the moon pool, stressing the fact that she had promised to Cleo to specifically let this go. Will thought it was in everyone's best interest just to leave her out.

Will thought of something finally. He called Rikki as soon as the idea came in to his hea. He didn't want to lose it.

After two rings, Rikki picked up. "Hello?" she said into the phone.

"Rikki," Will said. "Are you with Bella?"

"No," she replied. "Why?"

"Good," he said without giving her an explanation. "I came up with an idea…"

She understood now. "What is it?"

"Mr. Bennett," he told her simply.

Though Will couldn't see it, Rikki's face showed confusion. "What about him?"

"He knows about what's going on," he tells her. "Probably better than any of us. We need to get him to help us."

This stuns Rikki. Mr. Bennett, their English teacher, knows what Bella's hiding, but her two best friends don't? Rikki felt even more betrayed. It didn't make sense. But then again, maybe it did. Until Rikki could find out exactly what Bella was hiding, nothing would make sense. It would all come together at some point.

"So… id you have any ideas?" asks Rikki.

"I had one in mind…"

* * *

**What'd you guys think of that little sub plot/plot twist? What do you think will happen next? Thanks for reading! :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Chap. 21

After everything that happened during the previous day, Bella came back to school the next day, mostly unaware of what had happened the day before and the trouble she was most likely in. She was completely oblivious.

She went through the day as normal, not knowing what Will had up his sleeve and what he was planning, and certainly not knowing or even close to expecting the fact that Mr. Bennett knew her secret. She should be terrified, but little did she know this.

Finally, it came time in the day for Bella, Rikki, and Cleo to have English, Mr. Bennett's class. Bella walked with Will there, they held hands, but Will seemed sort of distracted. As they walked through the hall, Bella looked over at him. "Are you alright?" she asked him curiously.

Will was deep in thought. He was trying to plan out exactly what he needed to ask Mr. Bennett about trying to get Bella to tell her friends about her dyslexia. From what Will had heard from Bella, Mr. Bennett was really understanding of Bella's situation. Will knew that Bella was nervous and insecure about her dyslexia, but he kept telling her a million times that there was no need to be. She wouldn't listen to him. He just tried to let it go, he was sure it was something she would grow out of and become more comfortable with over time.

Will had a hard time letting it go. He didn't like the idea of Bella keeping secrets from her friends, especially when she really didn't need to, Will was sure they'd be understanding and supportive of her. Bella just wouldn't listen, she was stubborn. But now it was starting to come between Bella and the girls' friendship, which is something Will wasn't about to tolerate. He knew he couldn't let anything come between them, and he knew he had to do something about it.

About two minutes later, Will looked over at the blue eyed blonde next to him. She was giving him a peculiar, almost suspicious, expression. It finally occurred to him the she had asked him a question. "Oh… wha?" He fumbled over his words. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

They arrived at the classroom, and to avoid further questioning from Bella, Will quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek and sat down in his seat. Bella did, too, but she was still wondering what was up with Will…

They went through all of English class as they normally would. They paid attention to the lesson Mr. Bennett taught, did their class work, and read their assigned books. Soon, the class came to an end and Mr. Bennett dismissed them.

Will was planning to stay after class to talk to Mr. Bennett, but as usual, Bella had the same idea. He decided he would just wait out in the hallway until she was finished talking to him.

But little did he know that by standing out there, he would overhear a conversation that he had never, ever hoped to hear in his life…

…

Bella stayed after class as she usually would to talk to Mr. Bennett. She felt a lot better when she talked to him, almost like venting. She trusted him as a teacher more than any of her other ones. Whenever those public service announcements said 'find a trusted adult', she thought of him.

Bella was about to say something to him that she knew might be a mistake, but she didn't care. She was just curious. She slung her bag over her shoulder and went up to Mr. Bennett's desk.

He turned to her. "Hey, Bella," he said. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," she said. She leaned up against a nearby desk. They were silent for a moment, but Bella eventually broke the silence. "Mr. Bennett…?" he looked at her tentatively. "Can I ask you something? A weird question…"

He chuckled a little bit. "Sure," he said.

She shrugged and decided to go on ahead with it. "Do you believe in mermaids?"

Mr. Bennett didn't answer immediately. He stared at Bella for a moment, just thinking. He tried to keep his face free of anything that might worry Bella when he eventually answered. Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "Yes."

Bella couldn't believe he had actually said yes. She was curious of his reasoning. "Really?" she asked, still in disbelief. "Why?"

Mr. Bennett sighed and prepared for the next thing he would say. "Because I saw one," he said. His voice was still quiet. His eyes met Bella's. "Because I'm talking to one."

Immediately, fear shot straight through Bella. She was almost frozen stiff, but her eyes never left her teacher's. She tried to keep the fear she was feeling out of them. She tried to bluff her way out of it. She scoffs at him and rolls her yes. "Oh come on, what on earth are you—"

Mr. Bennett cuts her off. "Bella," he says patiently. "I think we can both agree it's futile for you to deny it at this point."

She gives up. Instead, she slowly shakes her head and slowly begins to back away.

He raises his eyebrows at her. "And I don't think running would be the smartest idea, either."

She stops. She just stares him down, unable to know what to make of this situation. It's obvious that he knows what she is, but she doesn't know what he's going to do about it. She decides to start with the basics. "How did you find out?" she asks, her voice a little more vicious than she intended it to be.

"Yesterday when you ran out of the classroom after getting wet, I followed you to make sure you were ok. I saw you on the floor through the window. Next time, try choosing a classroom without a window on the door," he says.

Bella sighs. She's really anxious, and Mr. Bennett can tell. "Bella, relax," he reassures her. "I won't hurt you."

She looks at him with a peculiar expression. She can't tell if he's being sincere or just trying to get her to calm down. But in situations like these, her judgment gets hazy from stress. "You aren't supposed to know."

He gives a small laugh. "Yeah, I kind of figured that part out."

"You can't tell anyone, either," she tells him sternly.

"I wasn't really planning on it," he says with his hands up in surrender. He can still see the fear in Bella's eyes. This isn't a small thing for her. He tries to reassure her. "Look, Bella, you don't have to worry. Your secret's safe with me."

Now Bella knows he's being sincere. She can tell by his voice, the look on his face. After a little bit of silence, Mr. Bennett speaks up again. "Why are you like that? How are you a mermaid?"

Bella gives a slight smile. "Good question," she says. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

He shakes his head, like it doesn't make sense. "Is it… in your genetics… or your…"

She shrugs. "I just like to go with magic," she says in all honesty.

Mr. Bennett chuckles again. "I like that." He asks more questions. "So you change… just when you… touch water?" He asks as if it can't be true. Which it really can't…

She nods. "Yup," she says. "Not the easiest thing to avoid in the world."

"And you just… grow a tail?" he asks. "Your entire cellular make up just… changes?"

She half understood what he meant there. She gives an uncertain nod. "Ok…"

He smiles. "Sorry, didn't mean to go all science on you."

Bella laughs. "Yeah, I only currently have a B." They both laugh.

Bella looks at the time. "Listen, Mr. Bennett, I have to go before I'm late. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok," he says. "See you then."

She nods and walks towards the door. She smiles. She realizes she can trust Mr. Bennett. She knows her secret's safe with him. She was surprised at how well he handled it, despite going a little science crazy on her.

Just as she gets to the door, Mr. Bennett calls for her. "Bella?"

She turns around to face him. "Hm?"

He looks at her solemnly. "Be careful."

She gives a nod without giving another word and exits the room.

She turns the corner and runs right in to Will, who just heard everything that went on.


	22. Chapter 22

Chap. 22

Bella whirled around the corner and slammed right in to Will. He startled her, she jumped. When she regained herself, she looked at him. His eyes were wide at her. She had the initial thought to run, so she started backing away slowly. Will shook his head.

He grabbed her by the arms to hold her still and keep her from running away. She struggled to make him let go, but eventually gave up. His grasp was too strong on her. She stopped and looked at him again, this time in to his eyes. They showed, worry, fear, and almost most prominently, anger.

Will spoke finally. "Are you insane?" he asks her in exasperation. "What's the matter with you?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to bluff her way out of it.

"Don't play games, Bella, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I heard everything." He gives her a serious look. Bella's façade falls off.

"So you were spying on me again, were you?" she asks accusingly.

"No!" he says. "I wasn't! I needed to talk to Mr. Bennett and was waiting out here until you were done."

Bella narrowed her eyes. "What did _you _need to talk to him about?"

"Just… nothing…" Will replies. He tries to change the subject. "That's not the point. The point _is, you _just gave up your secret to our English teacher! What were you thinking?"

"What choice did I have? He _saw _me!" she retorted back.

"You could have _denied _it!" he says back to her.

"I tried!" she defends. "It's kind of hard to convince someone who saw me as mermaid otherwise! Think, Will!"

"You didn't have to tell him anything," Will said. "You could have let it go, or run away."

"I was going to, but I don't think leaving would have been a smart decision. I was in a very compromising position," she tries.

Will is still holding on to her, but now he lets go. He leans up against the lockers and slumps down to the ground. He puts his head in his hands and runs his fingers through his hair. "Bella…" he looks up at her. "You don't understand. This is _dangerous._"

She scoffs at him. "Yes, I do understand. It's dangerous to have _anyone _know."

He sighs. "I know. But this shouldn't have happened."

"There's nothing we can do now." Bella sighs. "We just have to go on with it."

"Do we tell the girls?" asks Will.

"Absolutely not," Bella says. "It's bad enough as is without dragging them in too. We'll just leave them out."

Will shrugs. "I guess so." He goes back to what they were saying before. "You can't let Mr. Bennett know anything more than he already does. This is way too risky to mess around with, Bella."

She nods. She understands that. "I'll work it out."

Will shakes his head. "Bella, you need to listen to me. You can't mess around with this."

Bella gives him a look. She's not exactly crazy about the fact that Will is telling her what to do with _her _secret. She crosses her arms and looks down at her boyfriend on the floor. "I think I should make the calls in this situation."

Will sighs. He saw this coming. "But Bella… I'm only looking out for you. I don't want you to put yourself in danger. We can't trust anyone, not even him."

"But that's just the thing," she says. "I do."

"But you shouldn't! You don't know what you could be getting yourself in to."

"I'm perfectly aware," argues Bella. "And I think it's a risk worth taking."

Wioll sighs. He knows his are futile. Bella's too stubborn, and nothing he can say will change her mind. Finally, he puts his hands up in defeat. "Alright," he says. He gets back on his feet and stands in front of Bella. He takes her hands in to his and looks her in the eye. "Just promise me something."

"Anything."

He tries not to make his voice shake. "Just be careful."

She slowly nods. "I will. I know what I'm doing."

"Ok," Will says. He just hopes so.

…

Will walks in to Mr. Bennett's classroom like he originally had planned to do. Will approaches his desk, where the English teacher is sitting, typing on his computer. "Hey, Mr. Bennett," Will greets him as friendly as possible, especially after the recent given situation.

Mr. Bennett turns to him. "Oh, Will," he says. "What do you need?"

Will sighs. "Actually, I need to talk to you…"

Mr. Bennett gives a nod. "I could say the same to you."

Will gives him a confused expression. "What? You need to talk to me?"

Mr. Bennett nods again. He motions to a nearby desk. "Take a seat."

Will suspiciously and cautiously takes a seat on top of the desk. "Ok, what's up?"

Mr. Bennett gives him a serious look. He speaks slowly. "You know about Bella."

Will goes frozen stiff. How did he know that? And foremost, what was he referring to? Bella being a mermaid, or her dyslexia or… something else? He tries carefully. "What do you…?" He doesn't really need to finish his statement.

"You know that she's a mermaid," he replies. He says it so plainly, so bluntly, as if it's not actually a big deal.

Will's back to his previous wondering question that he decides to ask. "How did you know that?"

Mr. Bennett points to the door. "Talk quieter next time you're trying to be secretive. And if you specifically don't want _me _to hear, I'd suggest not talking right outside my classroom. Just a suggestion."

Will felt his face go red. "Sorry," he says quietly. That's all he can think to say.

"It's ok," Mr. Bennett says. He goes back to the situation at hand. "So you know about her?"

Will nods, almost regretful that he's saying this. "Yeah, I do."

"I see," Mr. Bennett replies. "And you don't want me to know?"

Will shrugs. "Nothing personal, but no one's supposed to know. I probably shouldn't. I'm not supposed to."

Mr. Bennett nods. "How did you find out about her?"

"It's a long story. I kind of made her tell me," Will explains.

"Ah," says Mr. Bennett. He goes on. "Does anyone else know about this?"

Will speaks without thinking. "Yes." When he says it, he nearly smacks himself on the forehead for being so stupid.

Mr. Bennett raises his eyebrows. "Who?"

"I'm not sure I should tell you that," Will says in all honesty. "This is Bella's call, not mine."

Mr. Bennett nods. "Understandable." Mr. Bennett pauses. He changes the subject for the moment. "So what did you need to talk to me about?" he asks.

"Funny you should ask that," Will tells him. "Because it's about Bella."


	23. Chapter 23

Chap. 23

"Funny you should ask that," Will tells him. "Because it's about Bella."

Mr. Bennett raises his eyebrows questioningly at Will. "Bella?" he repeats.

Will nods. "Yes," he says. "And her dyslexia."

Mr. Bennett gives a nod now too. "Ah," he replies. "I heard you knew about that too."

"Yeah," Will confirms again. "I kind of overheard you two talking…"

Mr. Bennett nods. "I see."

Will shrugs. "It's not important, really," he tells him. "But the real issue is that I'm the _only _one who knows."

Mr. Bennett seems confused. He isn't quite following what Will's saying… "…and?"

Will lets on. "She won't tell her two best friends." He raises his eyebrows as he leans back against the desk. "And _that's _a problem."

Mr. Bennett sits back in his own chair and shakes his head. "I tried to tell her to tell them, but she didn't take the hint."

"Either that or she's ignoring it," counters Will.

Mr. Bennett shrugs and gives an airy chuckle. "Sounds like something she would do."

Will gives a slight laugh too. "She is quite stubborn."

Mr. Bennett goes back to the situation at hand. He tilts his head at Will. "So what's wrong with her not telling them?"

Will recounts it in his head. "When I told Bella that I knew about her dyslexia and she told me she wasn't going to tell them, I made her promise that she wouldn't let it come between their friendship. They don't like to keep secrets from one another." Will winces when he says that. He might have let something on about the mermaid secret that he probably shouldn't have… He continues anyway. "But now, despite her promise, it's coming between their friendship."

Mr. Bennett takes a minute to take this all in. Finally, he responds. "Well, _THAT'S _not good…" He doesn't really know what to do. "Maybe I could talk to Bella about it…?"

Will shakes his head. "I told you, she's stubborn. Nothing you say will likely change her mind."

Mr. Bennett considers this. Will's definitely not wrong when he says Bella is stubborn, he knows that for a fact. He taps his pen as he thinks about it. He looks back up at Will. "So what are you suggesting?"

Will takes a deep breath. He speaks quietly. "I'm suggesting that we _make _her tell them."

Mr. Bennett now considers this. He has mixed feelings about the idea. He's not sure it's a good one. He tries to come up with another option. "Can't you just tell them yourself?"

Will shakes his head. "I was sworn to secrecy by Bella. Otherwise, they'd know by now."

Mr. Bennett shrugs. He tries to come up with another option yet. "Would she tell them herself?"

Will shrugs now too. "She told me she would maybe at some point, but I don't really see it happening any time soon. And now it's worrying me."

It seems to Mr. Bennett that they're out of other options. He sighs and tries to be honest with Will. "I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea, Will…" He tries to explain as clearly as possible while still making Will understand. "Dyslexia isn't an easy thing for a lot of people, and handling this situation might make it even worse on Bella than it already has been."

Will releases frustration outwardly. "Erg!" he yells. He bangs a desk. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Mr. Bennett is sort of taken aback. "Gosh, Will, calm down."

"I can't!" he yells back. "I _have _to fix this for Bella!"

"Why?" asks Mr. Bennett. "Why do you have to fix it for her?"

Will sighs and calms down. He finally answers. "Because she won't fix it herself."

Mr. Bennett nods. "Why is it so important that her two best friends know?" Through this, Mr. Bennett is assuming it's Cleo and Rikki.

Will hesitates to answer, but eventually decides to. "Because they can't keep secrets from each other," he replies. His voice is quiet now that he's calmed down and careful. "Because when they do, it becomes _dangerous._"

Mr. Bennett gives a slow nod. He finally understands why Will is doing this, the reasoning behind it. And he's pretty sure he can guess through those reasons. After hearing all of Will's reasons behind his idea, he warms up to it a bit more, seeing that it really might be in Bella's and everyone else's best interest. "I'll go back to what I said before. What _exactly _do you suggest for this?"

"Well…" Will replies. "I had a few ideas…"

…

Bella goes home from school that day on the bus, doing a lot of thinking. She goes back and recounts the day's events in her head.

Mr. Bennett found out she was a mermaid. That was big for Bella. She didn't know what to do. She felt like she could trust Mr. Bennett, almost as if he was an older brother or something, but she didn't know. Did Will maybe have a point?

That was the other thing. Will. He had overheard her talking to Mr. Bennett, admitting straight that she was a mermaid to him. She tried to reassure herself with the fact that she didn't really have another option, but it still didn't make her feel better, almost as if part of the secret she kept belonged to Will.

But that was the thing. It didn't. It didn't belong to Will, which is why Bella got angry with Will when he tried to tell her what to do with her own secret. She was really, truly considering trying to let Mr. Bennett know about her being a mermaid, but she didn't know. There was the part of her that wanted to, but then her other part of her, the secretive part with instincts that instantly made her reserved, told her not to. She didn't know which on to listen to.

And lastly, there was everything with Cleo and Rikki. Everything between them today, their conversations, encounters, and everything else just seemed… awkward. Awkward. She felt like she was drifting from them. Bella tried to act as normal as possible with them, but they, for some reason, weren't doing the same. And Bella's best guess was that it had something to do with her and what she was hiding from her friends.

That brought Bella back to another point. Her dyslexia. She still didn't understand herself in her own mind. Why was she so set on keeping this? Why was she so embarrassed by it? She knew she didn't need to be. But why?

Deep down, she really knew. Because people can be mean. People don't understand, and people are just heartless. She didn't want to risk what could come with people knowing she was dyslexic. Even her friends.

Bella stepped off the bus. In her head, she was extremely conflicted. With so many things.


	24. Chapter 24

Chap. 24

Bella woke up the next morning feeling just as conflicted as she had been the day before. A good night's sleep had done absolutely nothing for her situation. She woke up sleepy eyed, but was quickly snapped awake when everything reclicked in her mind.

Her keeping a secret. Her crumbling friendship. Will's warnings. Mr. Bennett finding out she was a mermaid.

All of these things struck terror through Bella as she realized she didn't have a clue what to do about any of them. She had no idea what the outcome of the day would be.

As she went through the morning, getting ready for school, riding the bus, going to her classes, she tried to think through each of her situations, as well as look at it as a whole. She tried to make sense of it, find solutions, and regain perspective, but she couldn't. She was too anxious, too nervous, too worried to even think straight. She didn't know what to do.

She absentmindedly walked through the hall to her next class, gym, which she had with Will. She was too distracted to notice anything at all. She didn't even realize when Will walked up beside her and fell in to step with her, walking alongside her. She only noticed him after a minute when he took her hand in his and finally spoke. "Hey, you," he greets her with a warm smile.

She turns to him for a second and tries to return the smile, failing miserably. "Hey," she replies weakly. Too worried, too distracted.

Will instantly notices that there's something amiss with Bella. He makes a face that creases his eyebrows as he walks next to his girlfriend. "What's wrong?" he asks her.

By habit, Bella just shrugs and keeps looking down, like she always does when she thinks. "Nothing," she responds dismissively, just sort of waving him off.

He doesn't buy it for a second. "Really," he presses. "What is it?" Bella doesn't respond and just keeps walking. Will steps around in front of her and takes her by the shoulders to stop her. She keeps looking down. "Hey," he says delicately. He takes his hand and tries to tilt Bella's chin up. "Look at me."

She shakes her head and sighs. She knows, especially at this point, that she can't keep anything from Will. "I'm just a bit worried, is all."

"Worried?" he asks her. They still stand facing one another. "About what?"

"A lot of things," she replies honestly. She speaks quietly. "About Mr. Bennett knowing, everything with the girls, my dyslexia." She sighs again. "It's just a lot to handle."

Next, Bella expects Will to lecture her on one thing or another, whether it be on her keeping her mermaid secret safe, or telling the girls about her dyslexia, or reassuring her about it. But he doesn't. He simply gives a soft smile and says, "Don't worry. It'll be ok." He pauses and lowers his voice even more. "It'll get better."

Bella just stares back at him, not knowing what to think. She believes there to be something behind what he's saying, but with his face not giving away any hints, she can't be sure. Finally, she says, "How do you know?"

His mouth slowly curls in to a smile. "Because I do."

Somehow, she manages to smile back.

…

Finally, it's time for Bella, Cleo, Rikki, and Will to have English, which worries Bella beyond belief. Not only is that the class where she has to face Mr. Bennett, but it's also the class where she has to face Cleo and Rikki at the same time.

Bella walks to class, slower than usual to avoid any additional time she needs to spend there voluntarily. When she gets in, she takes her seat as usual. She looks around. Mr. Bennett looks completely normal, not paying Bella any more mind than he usually would. She looks to Will. He smiles at her. She looks to Cleo and then Rikki. They don't seem to have noticed her yet.

The class starts, Mr. Bennett starts teaching. Throughout the whole class, Bella can't pay attention. Her mind is distracted by her thoughts. At this point, she still hasn't figured out what to do about Mr. Bennett or her friends, both of which she thought she would have figured out by now. She was sadly mistaken.

Bella remains anxious and fidgety throughout the duration of the class period, though she hopes no one can notice. She watches the minutes tick by as the end of the period creeps closer and closer…

…

Meanwhile, Will and Rikki pass notes throughout the time of the class. Will passes the first one to Rikki.

_Stay after class today._

_Why?_

_Just do it. Wait out in the hallway for me after class so I can explain._

_I want an explanation now. _

Will rolls his eyes when he reads that note. Rikki's almost as stubborn as Bella. He scribbles a reply. _I can't explain now. You just have to trust me; it's for a good reason. Tell Cleo too. I need you both._

Will passes the note and watches Rikki read it. He then sees her lean over to Cleo and whispers something to her. He grins to himself. Finally, she passes the note back to him. _Fine. But you'd better have a good reason. _

He carefully writes his next reply.

_Trust me. I do. _

…

Finally, the end of the class catches Bella. Even though she sat through forty five minutes of class in her own distracted mind, nothing came to her, and now it's time to face the music. She realizes she has to talk to Mr. Bennett, no matter what the price may be.

As everyone else leaves, Bella approaches Mr. Bennett's desk. She leans against a student desk as the rest of the students file out, including, Will, Rikki, and Cleo. When everyone's gone, she finally speaks. "Hi, Mr. Bennett," she says weakly, accompanied by a just as weak smile.

Mr. Bennett turns his attention from his computer and looks at Bella briefly. He turns back to the computer and just starts carrying on a normal conversation. "Hey, Bella," he says casually."What's up?"

"Nothing," is all Bella can say. Out of habit and impulse, Bella begins nervously tapping the desk she's leaning against with her finger tips.

Mr. Bennett hears this and turns to her. He looks her fidgeting hand with a peculiar expression and then up at her. "Is everything alright?"

Bella shrugs. Mr. Bennett shrugs too and turns back to his work. Bella keeps tapping her fingers. She stayed because she knew she needed to talk to him, she's just not exactly sure what about. Mr. Bennett knows she's not saying anything, but doesn't make her leave because of what him and Will talked about.

Bella's finger tapping continues. Finally, he turns and focuses his attention on Bella. "Why are you so nervous?' he asks her.

So he _has_ noticed. Bella sighs. "I thought it would be obvious."

Mr. Bennett's eyebrows crease. He looks back and forth, as if missing the obvious. "I _seriously _want to know, since I'm apparently missing it."

Bella sighs again, hating to be the one to bring it up. "You found out that I'm a mermaid," she says quietly.

He's still missing the point. "…and?"

Bella can't believe he's missing this. "You're a former biology teacher and you just found out that I'm a scientific miracle." She sighs. Saying it out loud makes it sound even scarier. "If you were me, you'd be nervous, too."

Mr. Bennett gives a chuckle. Now Bella's confused. "What?" she asks.

He laughs again. "_That's _what you're worried about?"

Bella makes a face as if it's obvious. "Uh… yeah."

He gives a slight chuckle again but then tries to look at her seriously. "You're fine, Bella," he tells her. "I told you I wouldn't hurt you."

Bella narrows her eyes. "Why not?" she asks skeptically. "Most people would jump at the opportunity you have."

Mr. Bennett shrugs. "I guess I just don't think like that," he says. "But you're right. Most people _would _jump on the opportunity to expose you. You're literally a scientific breakthrough." The words make Bella gulp. "But even so, you _are _a human being, not a science experiment, and I don't want to be the one who lands you on a lab table. Trust me, your secret's safe with me."

Bella is close to stunned. She can't believe Mr. Bennett would really do that for her, he would keep her secret to make sure she's safe, no matter how much his scientific curiosity bugs him. She finally can speak. "Thanks, Mr. Bennett."

"No need to thank me," he says. He gives a light chuckle. "I just don't want you to end up dissected."

Bella gives a light, airy laugh. "Yeah, me either." Bella feels as if a tremendous weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Mr. Bennett completely understood. It made Bella feel a lot better.

Now Bella just had to work everything else out.

And as if reading her mind, Mr. Bennett started. "While we're here…" he starts. "Let's talk about your dyslexia." Bella gulps at his next words. "And your friends."


	25. Chapter 25

Chap. 25

"While we're here…" Mr. Bennett starts. "Let's talk about your dyslexia." Bella gulps at his next words. "And your friends."

Bella shifts back in to slight panic. Her words come out stuttered. "Wh-what about them?" she asks shakily.

Mr. Bennett is very blunt with her. "Did you tell them like I suggested?" he asks her, even though he knows she didn't.

Bella hesitates, but she eventually regretfully shakes her head. "No," she says. "I didn't want to."

He shakes his head at her. "Bella…" he says, his voice sounding tiredly agitated. "Why not?"

She tries to defend herself. "I'm not ready to," she tells him straight up, sounding almost annoyed by him bringing it up again.

He groans. "Why do you keep holding back on this? Why won't you tell them?" he asks her. "You don't have anything to worry about. They'll understand."

Bella is really annoyed now. "How do you know that?" she almost yells, her hands up in exasperation. She doesn't usually freak out like this, but between his and Will's constant pressing on this, she's getting sort of sick of it. "You don't know what they'll do!"

Despite Bella freaking out, Mr. Bennett stays calm, hoping that it'll calm Bella down too. She's way too high strung today, and Mr. Bennett can tell. He doesn't want to make it worse. "Bella, from what I've heard, you friends will understand. Don't you trust them?"

Bella groans now. "I trust them completely, but that's not the thing," she says. She shakes her head. "They might not treat me the same way; they might not look at me the same way. I don't want anything to change our friendship."

"From the way it sounds, it already has," he comments. He sighs. "Bella, it's not good to keep secrets from your friends, especially these ones…" Mr. Bennett contemplates whether he should say his next comment. He doesn't want to worry Bella but she deserves to know. His voice drops so it's quieter. "And especially under the circumstances."

Bella's stomach drops. Just from that subtle comment, she knows that he knows about Cleo and Rikki. But how? She can barely speak. "…how did you…?"

He gives a harmless smirk. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out." He figured it out through Will's subtle comments yesterday, though Will probably meant them to be harmless. Mr. Bennett didn't dare mention it, though, because based on how Bella was now, she'd slit Will's throat.

Bella tenses. It's a lot worse than she had initially thought. She knew that Mr. Bennett would keep their secret, but she didn't want them dragged in in the first place and now they were. Bella sighs.

Mr. Bennett speaks. "Bella, relax," he tells her. "You're way too stressed."

"For good reasons," she counters. She sits on top of a desk and puts her head in her hands. "I've made such a mess…" she speaks quietly.

"Bella…" Mr. Bennett coaxes her. "It's alright, you're fine. You didn't make a mess."

"Yes I did…" she argues. "If I had just been honest with the girls and been more careful in class, _none _of this would have ever happened." She sighs and mutters under her breath. "Stupid…" she says.

Despite her mumbling, Mr. Bennett hears her. "Hey," he reprimands her. "You're _not _stupid. You couldn't help what happened to you." He tries to reassure her in to thinking it's not her fault, because it really isn't. "What happened in science was just a freak thing. People get wet, it happens." He gives a slight laugh. "If anything, you should be mad at me for being concerned and following you."

This makes Bella feel a little better. She laughs. "Yeah, I guess," she admits. "But you were only looking out for me." She pauses. Her voice lowers. "Thanks," she says. "Better you than somebody else." She really means that.

"_I'm _glad it was me and not somebody else," he replies. "You shouldn't trust _anybody_, I'm probably lucky you even admitted it to me."

She nods. "You are," she says. "But I know I can trust you."

Mr. Bennett smiles. "I'm glad you can." He hesitates as Bella smiles back. He hates to crush it, but he brings it back up. "Not telling your friends wasn't your fault either." As expected, her face falls. "What you did was a normal reaction. It takes some getting used to and usually requires a lot of trust and guts." He pauses. Bella stays still, but she doesn't listen. He goes on. "You don't need to be embarrassed."

"I'm not," Bella says, and now hearing it out loud, she realizes it's true. "I'm not embarrassed as much as I am afraid."

Mr. Bennett slowly shakes his head. "You don't need to be."

"I know," Bella replies. She knows this too. "But I am anyway. It's just natural at this point, to be afraid to let things out. I'm so reserved…" She shakes her head just to herself. "Sometimes it's like living in fear…" Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"You shouldn't live in fear, Bella," he says. "You can't let your secrets run your life. Otherwise, you're going to be running from everything all the time." He pauses. "You need to learn how to handle it. How to control it."

She shrugs. She doesn't understand. "But how?" she asks. "What is there to do at this point?"

"For starters," he says. "Tell your friends you have dyslexia."

Bella looks Mr. Bennett dead in the eye, neither of their gazes faltering, only his for a second when they seem to glance past her. She doesn't move from her seat, contemplating on what she should really do. She knows he's right. But…

Suddenly, she feels a hand on her shoulder, which makes her jump for half a second. She turns to see the face of whoever it is.

It's Will.

"Bella…"

…

Meanwhile…

English class is dismissed and all of the students file out of the classroom. Will looks around. All accept Bella. Perfect.

Will went out in to the hallway and looked around. Sure enough, on the other side were Cleo and Rikki leaning against lockers. Will spotted them and approached.

When Rikki saw him, she looked at him accusingly. "Explain," she demanded.

Will shook his head. "No time," he says. "Come on." He grabs each one of their wrists and drags them down the now empty hallway. When they all turn a corner, Will decides they're a safe distance away from Mr. Bennett's classroom. He doesn't want them to overhear anything they say before they're supposed to.

When they get around the corner, Cleo angrily pulls her hand out of Will's grasp and gives him a look of annoyance. "Will, what's going on?" she asks, her voice just as demanding as Rikki's was previously. Both girls cross their arms and look at Will with a death stare.

Will puts his hands out in a way that tells them to stop. "I can explain," he says.

"You'd better," Rikki says, the irritation now obvious in her voice as she stands before Will.

Will looks around the corner to glance down towards the classroom. The coast is clear. "You know how Bella has been hiding something it seems?" They both nod. He goes on. "You're going to find out what it is soon." Will turns his attention back to the classroom door down the hall. It's open, but they can't really hear anything besides the unidentifiable mutter of voices.

Rikki has a knowing look in her eyes while Cleo turns to her, exasperated. She begins to reprimand Rikki. "I thought you promised to let it go!"

"I know, but we needed to figure out what was up with Bella!" Rikki scolds back.

"What happened to giving her her privacy?" Cleo continues.

"It was fine at first, but now it's starting to get—"

Will flies around and cuts them off. "Will you two quit arguing?" he yells at them. "We're trying to help your friend, as well as you guys, and all you can do is bicker!"

Rikki and Cleo both look guilty and become silent very quickly. Will turns his attention back to the classroom.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Will decides to make his move. He briefly turns to the girls. "I'll be right back."

Rikki begins to protest. "But—"

Will cuts her off again. He turns back for a second again. "Just trust me." Rikki closes her mouth.

Will quietly creeps down the hall towards the classroom. When he's close enough to the door, he tries to listen. Now he hears them speaking more clearly than her heard before. He hears Bella speak first.

"But I am anyway. It's just natural at this point, to be afraid to let things out. I'm so reserved…" That's the first thing Will hears. It doesn't make much sense to him just entering the conversation, but he quickly catches on with her next comment, which is barely audible from where he is. "Sometimes it's like living in fear…"

"You shouldn't live in fear, Bella," he hears Mr. Bennett reply. "You can't let your secrets run your life. Otherwise, you're going to be running from everything all the time." He pauses. "You need to learn how to handle it. How to control it."

Will keeps listening. "But how?" she asks. "What is there to do at this point?"

"For starters," he says. "Tell your friends you have dyslexia."

When Bella doesn't say anything, Will decides that it would be a good time to go. He silently enters the classroom and cautiously walks up behind Bella. He makes brief eye contact with Mr. Bennett before the teacher trains his eyes back on Bella in order for her not to notice that his attention was averted to something else.

When he finally is behind Bella, he gently puts his hand on her shoulder. He briefly feels her jolt and then she turns to him. He looks at her with thoughtful eyes.

"Bella…"


	26. Chapter 26

**Hello readers! So lately, I've been getting a lot of comments and reviews on this story, saying how Bella is overreacting and being ridiculous about her dyslexia in the story. I think a lot of people are missing something; that's the point. I specifically made Bella to be ridiculous and over the top with this for the way it plays out in the story, it's not supposed to be entirely realistic with how it happens. A few have also told me that that's not what they would do themselves. That's another fact of it, I'm writing it for Bella, not anyone else, and that's just how I took Bella's character to be. I just wanted to clear that up for now. (And, please, no one take this the wrong way or feel like it was directed at anyone in particular, because it wasn't. It was really just meant to clear things up, nothing more. I'm pretty sure anyone who's reading this is mature enough to understand that. And if not… well.)**

**Well, I think this to be the last chapter of this story (I got my previous point across pretty late, huh?). I hope you like the way it ends. Happy reading! :)**

* * *

Chap. 26

"Bella…"

Bella looks at Will as he says her name delicately. She doesn't want to deal with him right now. She shook her head. "Will, what do you want?" The annoyance in her voice is obvious.

Will instantly sees this and draws back his hand out of caution. "Nothing," he answers his hands up in mock surrender. He reconsiders his words. "Well, something… just…"

"I'm not in the mood for whatever it is, Will," Bella says, still obviously irritated. She rolls her eyes and crossed her arms in resentment. She looks away from him.

Will just gets it out. "Bella, you need to tell Rikki and Cleo about your dyslexia. They deserve to know, they're your best friends." He lowers his voice. "Plus…" He doesn't finish that sentence. Instead, he walks out of the room. Bella's confused. She looks to Mr. Bennett for help, but he doesn't give away any hints.

Bella's wonder is ceased in a minute when he returns, accompanied by Rikki and Cleo. Will looks at Bella for her reaction. She just looks at him like she's disappointed, mixed with very subtle exasperation. "You brought them here?" She says it like a question. "So I'd tell them?"

Will nods. His voice is soft and comforting. "Bella, you need to tell them eventually."

"Will, that's not the point!" she almost yells for the second time that day. "I was going to tell them. Really, I was." She sighs. "But _you _rushed me in to it. You tried to have me tell them before I was ready. I barely had time to get used to the idea myself before I even had an opportunity to _consider _it, but you just pressed me on ahead of myself." She pauses. "I just needed some time."

Will sighs. Now he feels bad. He didn't mean to pressure Bella; he was only trying to look out for her. He didn't want anything to come between her and her friends, and when he saw that it was, he needed to fix it. He mentally scolds himself. He needed to stop acting on impulse. Stupid adolescence.

He wraps his arms around his girlfriend. "Aw, Bella, I'm so sorry," he apologizes with all sincerity. "I didn't realize…" He hesitates and just holds his arms around her. "I thought you weren't telling them out of fear rather than just… time."

"Most of it was time," she confirmed. "At least it was up until recently. That's when fear came in, when you started pressuring me in to it." Bella wasn't trying to make Will feel bad, though she knew she was. She was just trying to make sure he really understood. "That's when I was forced to start thinking about it too much, and that's when it got scary. It… it just set me over the top and I was going crazy."

Will sighed. "I'm so sorry, Bella," I didn't mean it. I was only trying to do what was best for you… I was only looking out for you…"

Bella nods. "I know you were," she says. "I appreciate that. And I forgive you."

This puts a smile on Will's face. They're all silent for moment. Eventually, Mr. Bennett clears his throat, anticipating to get their attention. When Bella and Will look to him, he nods his head in the direction of Cleo and Rikki, who have been silent the entire time.

They both look to them and they all look at each other. After a longer moment of silence, Will speaks to Bella. "Can you tell them now?" he asks quietly.

Bella sighs and shrugs. "Might as well."

Bella anticipates saying it, but the words don't come. She's hesitating greatly. Cleo sees this. "Bella, what's going on?"

Rikki concludes her exact next thought. "You can tell us anything."

Bella sighs and nods knowingly. "I know..." Despite knowing this, she still hesitates. After a long silence and anticipated looks from Cleo and Rikki, Bella looks to Mr. Bennett for support. He smiles and gives her a reassuring nod. Next she looks to Will. He gives her a strong, unfaltering look. Finally, with her gaze still locked with Will, she speaks, her voice quiet. "You tell them."

Will looks surprised, as do all of the others. He gives Bella a questioning look. "Are you sure?" he asks.

"I'm sure," she answers with a decided nod.

Will braces himself and turns to Cleo and Rikki. He sighs. "Guys…" he says. They listen tentatively. He finds the courage to say it. "Bella has dyslexia." He pauses to see their reaction. All he can see in their looks is shock. He goes on. "She didn't want us to know because it was new to her. She was trying to get used to it." Will basically recounts what was previously said, but now that it's out in the open, explaining it again will help them understand in full. "I was pushing her farther than she could go. This is my fault. Otherwise, everything would be fine."

Bella knows Will feels bad, which she doesn't want. "Will, it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. I know it is," he says as he turns to her. "And I truly am sorry."

"And I truly forgive you," she responds. "So stop blaming yourself."

Will sighs. Finally, they look to Rikki and Cleo for their reaction. They still look a touch shocked. Cleo speaks first, Bella's stomach drops from anticipation. "That's… that's what you've been keeping from us?"

Bella nods. "Yes."

"But…" Rikki begins. "Why?"

"Like I told you," Bella replies. "I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to tell anyone. I was upset about it at first, but I knew I'd recover and go on with it, it wasn't a big deal, really. I tried to recover, but not before Will noticed something was up. When Will got suspicious, that's when everything blew out of proportion for me. It went to my head before I could control it." She looks to Mr. Bennett. "And that's when all the fear all came along."

Mr. Bennett takes this time to speak up. "Bella got way too many opportunities to over think it before she did anything about it. _That's _when we started to get worried about her, which led to this."

Will puts his head in his hands. "This is all my fault," he mumbles quietly.

Despite the lowness of his voice, Bella still heard him. "Will, stop. It wasn't your fault, you need to stop blaming yourself."

"Bella's right," Mr. Bennett said. "Trying to take the blame won't help at all." Will looks back up.

Bella goes back on. "The point _is_, this all got to this point because I overreacted. If I had handled it better, then none of this would've happened like this. I'm sorry."

Cleo walks over and hugs Bella. "Don't apologize. You don't have to," Cleo tells her. "Bella, you can trust us." She's not suggesting it to Bella as much as she is really telling her.

"I know I can," Bella says. "That wasn't my problem. I don't know…"

Rikki walks over and joins in the hug too. "Bella, you know you can tell us anything, right?"

"I know," Bella replies.

"We don't care that you're dyslexic. We care about you no matter what. You don't need to keep secrets from us. Ever," Cleo tells her.

"I know," Bella repeats.

Bella now realizes in the hug that telling them wasn't her fear, she knew she could trust them, she knew they'd understand. She just wasn't ready. She pushed herself over the edge. But that's ok. You live and you learn. She isn't worried about her dyslexia anymore, she isn't ashamed or embarrassed like she almost initially felt when she let it get to her. It's part of who she is, and she accepts that. Now she knows she's ready. She's ok.

Bella looks over her friend's shoulders. She sees Will, who's smiling. She smiles back. She shifts her glance to Mr. Bennett. He's smiling at her too.

Bella doesn't know what she'd have done without Mr. Bennett through this. Without him, she probably would've lost it entirely. He knows and relates to her dyslexia and he knows she's a mermaid. If he hadn't known these things, she really _would _have lost it. She's extremely grateful for a cool guy like him. She's glad she has him there for her, glad she can trust him. He winks at her and gives a smirk, one that says a mock _I told you so. _Bella gives a barely audible chuckle and rolls her eyes.

She's ok now.

Bella has secrets.

But now, she knows to not live in fear of them.

…

**Well, readers, once again, this seems like the end. Did you like it? I really hope so. :)**

**Thank you all so much for your absolutely wonderful support, that means so much to me! **

**There a few people I would especially like to thank… ;) **

**gabisamore (Ella)/daydreambeliever123****- ELLA! You and your awesome support for me. What on earth would I do without you and your wonderful uplifting ffedback? THANK YOU! :D**

**Lilypel****- Probably the only other person I've met that is as obsessed with mermaids as I am. ;) And maybe even a little more… Anyway, thank you for everything, Lily! ;)**

**YugiohObsessed****, ****Quillcox****, ****Arocksprpl2****, ****wella4ever25****, ****Diontae S****, ****h20FanGirl25****, and my anonymous reviewers- I don't know you all as personally as I know the other two I mentioned, but I just have to say thank you to each of you for your nice reviews and constant support. **

**Thank all of you guys for just coming back and reading my story, to people who read, review, alert, and favorite. You guys are all the reason I want to write, to entertain you guys! **

**I can't express enough thanks to you. :D **

**GOD BLESS YOU ALL!**

**-Colemet**


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